


Unlimited

by Lilyyuri



Category: Brave (2012), Frozen (2013)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-05
Updated: 2014-08-05
Packaged: 2018-01-15 08:50:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1298851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilyyuri/pseuds/Lilyyuri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*** REPOST*** "Queen Elsa and Princess Anna of Arendelle." The herald announced and Queen Elinor and King Fergus rose to their feet. Merida leaned to peak behind her father's broad back. Queen and Princess, Arendelle had a queen and a princess, no king, no prince- well, that sure got her attention.<br/>A FemmSlash story- Elsa/Merida.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One- REPOST

******This is a Repost!!******

I just saw "Frozen" again and was reminded of this story so I went back to read it and realized I left out pretty much half of what I wanted to write, so I added bits and pieces. The plot is pretty much the same; it's mostly adding volume to the feelings and stuff. Hope you like it better now, because before it was a bit… meh, if you ask me. :D

 **Disclaimer:** It's all Disney/Pixar's. Honestly.

 **Summary:** What happens when the Arendelle girls go on an official visit to the Highlands and meet the feisty Merida? A cross-over between "Brave" and "Frozen".

 **Warnings:** This is FemmSlash, i.e. two girls.

 **Author's Note:** This takes place after both films end, so basically there are no real spoilers, but I'm assuming if you're reading this then you've already seen the movies so it's ok.

I've been on a bit of a loop of "Let it go" and "Defying gravity" lately (yeah, I know, original…) mostly because I think Idina Menzel is simply the best, so you can see where the title for this story comes from.

** UNLIMITED **

** Chapter One **

Merida shifted uncomfortably in her hard wooden seat. The past few months had been pure hell for her. Ever since she made peace with her mother and returned her to her human form things have improved vastly in the castle, but then the Queen, who clearly despaired of her daughter ever making the effort to find herself a suitor, decided instead that Merida was more than ready to take on the responsibilities of rulership, and so the poor princess was forced to sit through hours and hours of meetings with dignitaries from all over the kingdom and even further, having to listen and smile and occasionally venture an opinion. It was all made especially hard since most of them; particularly those from the kingdom itself, still remembered her as the bouncy child with the wild hair that was always running underfoot and trying to shoot her toy bow at them, which made earning their respect a whole lot harder. Her mother seemed to think it was some cosmic punishment for not taking her schooling seriously. Merida just thought it was unfair.

Today, for example, they were to greet the delegation from Arendelle coming to discuss liaisons of trade. Merida shifted miserably again, her mother had forced her into yet another uncomfortable, restricting dress and stuffed her hair under another one of those horrible head covers that made her look like an onion. She started drumming her fingers on the wooden armrest while waiting for the announcer to finally stop rolling his R's and get with the formal introductions, this was so boring Merida was honestly afraid she will be physically harmed from rolling her eyes and inwardly groaning, and she was practically counting the seconds until she could get out and vent some of her frustration in the form of hard riding and some serious bow shooting. Queen Elinor sent yet another scanting look at her daughter who slumped further in her seat and crossed her arms in petulant defiance. Just because she was supposed to be the leader of the four clans one day, did not mean she had to enjoy it! Her parents were young enough to have many more years of ruling ahead of them! She should be outside, with her bow, having fun and not being stuck in the stuffy castle waiting for yet another boring delegation of people she cared nothing for and smile and be cordial and princess like.

To make it all worse, her parents, or rather her mother had sent the triplets away to some relatives in the north until they were done with meeting all the important people who came through their kingdom over the summer, so Merida didn’t even have the benefit of helping them pull pranks over the more obnoxious guests. She never fully appreciated having the triplets around but boy did she miss them right now!

"Queen Elsa and Princess Anna of Arendelle." The herald announced and Queen Elinor and King Fergus rose to their feet smiling benevolently at their guests. Merida leaned to peak behind her father's broad back. Queen and Princess, Arendelle had a queen and a princess, no king, no prince- well, that sure got her attention.

"Merida!" Queen Elinor's hiss carried through the hall, causing the flushed princess to shuffle to her feet looking embarrassed, before curiously looking at the Queen and Princess. Princess Anna had sweet, open face, and she kept looking around her with wide, curious eyes, she even had red hair- nowhere near as red as Merida's of course, and it behaved! Anna's hair was actually braided! Merida felt a tiny pang of jealousy at seeing the other princess' neat braids; after all, everyone in the kingdom, including herself has given up the struggle with her impossible hair after countless combs broke over her curls. When Princess Anna caught Merida's eye she gave her fellow princess a friendly wave and a shy smile and Merida knew she liked that one already.

Smiling back at Anna, Merida turned her attention to the queen and her breath caught in her throat, Queen Elsa was the most beautiful girl she'd ever seen. Her hair was such pale blond it was almost white and combined with her pale skin she looked like she was glowing and Merida couldn’t take her eyes off her. She was vaguely aware of her mother saying something to the delegation but every sound in the room seemed to come from far away when Queen Elsa turned her head and their eyes locked. The Queen's eyes were icy blue and mesmerizing and Merida's mind was filled with images of lands far beyond her own, snowy peaks and glaciers. The Queen's eyes were glowing with some internal frozen fire and Merida felt like she could lose herself in them for days. The spell was broken when Anna shook her sister gently at the same time King Fergus oafishly tried to lightly elbow his daughter, causing her to stumble and fall gracelessly into her chair. Merida felt her face burning up and for the first time in her life was glad her hair was hidden away because she knew the effect of so much red was even more embarrassing than falling flat on your arse. Covering her face she shrank in her chair and prayed to any known god under the sun that the Arendelle Queen wouldn’t think ill of her after such a pitiful display.

Queen Elinor took a deep breath, although she was used to her husband and daughter less than graceful ways it never ceased to amaze her how clumsy they could be- and especially in front of guests! She quickly stepped down from the throne, going over to the Arendelle delegation and started leading them towards their rooms, not before she sent another of her infamous scanting glares over her shoulder at her family. Both Fergus and Merida flinched a little under the Queen's gaze, before sharing a guilty grin,

"Well," Said the king, rubbing his huge hands together, "I think that went rather well."

Elsa stood in the middle of the room she was given, undoing her cloak. So far, things were definitely going well. Ever since the "Eternal Winter Incident" back home she's been extra cautious about traveling and meeting new people. Sure, the people of Arendelle thought her powers were wonderful and were ever so proud of their ice producing Queen but news of her power hadn’t reached this far and she was determined not to let anything slip. Her dealings with Weaseltown taught her to be cautious as to whom she revealed her powers, and so once again she was wearing her trusty gloves. She sincerely hoped no one would notice if they didn’t come off.

Looking out the window Elsa was mesmerized by the beauty of the highlands. The big stone castle stood on top of a hill, while all around it the land was green and lush, the meadows rolling and stretching around for miles, only to be cut by thick forests and deep lakes furrowing through the green. The water of the lakes were reflected perfectly by the cloudless sky above and sparkled clear and bright blue, just like the eyes of Princess Merida. Merida, whose name Elsa rolled softly on her tongue once or twice, just to get used to the sound of it. She was beautiful, Elsa thought with a soft smile, not traditionally so perhaps, but that what made her all the more interesting. The way Merida looked at her was something Elsa never experienced before and just thinking of Merida was making her cheeks grow warm and her whole body itch, but in a good way. Taking a deep breath Elsa realized she'd have to keep her distance from the young princess if she had any chance of maintaining any sort of decorum, because Merida had the ability to make her brain turn into goo with merely a glance.

Ever since her father closed the gates, back when she was still so young and scared of her own powers Elsa always knew she wasn’t destined to fall in love. Sometimes she envied Anna's ability to fall in love with the drop of a hat, but then again, Anna was never very smart with her choices. Elsa herself always knew she'd be married, but she figured it would be a political match, destined to better both hers and her husband's kingdoms. This was why meeting Merida was sending so many confusing messages between her body and brain and Elsa closed her eyes and repeated her age old mantra "Conceal, don't feel" over and over again to calm herself down.

A knock came at the door, pulling Elsa from her musings with a start. She shook her head and took a deep breath to center herself before going over to the heavy oaken door and opening it. On the other side stood a beaming Anna bouncing on tips of her toes, and she pushed her way into Elsa's room as soon as the door opened skipping joyfully,

"Isn't it wonderful Elsa?" She cried, twirling in the center of the room with her arms spread wide and Elsa rolled her eyes in amusement. From the moment they opened the gates of Arendelle, Anna wanted nothing more than to travel and discover new places and meet new people. She passed her whole childhood in the closed castle with only the suits of armor and the paintings for company and she craved the intimacy brought on by making new friends. Sometimes it still surprised Elsa how much the two of them saw things differently, because she really didn’t have any sort of people skills, which was precisely the reason Elsa decided to bring Anna along. Perhaps, in a few years, when Anna would finally learn curb her endless enthusiasm and control her wayward mouth; she could send her on these trading expeditions alone. "I can't wait to get out of the castle and see this place properly!" Anna danced her way to the window, breathing deep the cool and crisp Highlands air into her lungs, "I wonder if it's possible to go for a swim in one of these lakes." She wondered aloud, and Elsa chuckled,

"I'm afraid the water is too cold." She informed her sister, who looked crestfallen, that was just great- another place with lakes too cold to swim; will she ever go to a place that was really warm? She was starting to sound like Olaf! The thought made Anna chuckle as she turned back to her sister, determined to make the best of this new place, regardless of its weather.

"I bet Princess Merida could show us around, she seemed so lovely, don’t you think?" Anna said brightly, and Elsa felt her cheeks growing warm again. Turning her head she tried to control her emotions and will the blush away, though her sister was too busy rambling about how much fun they were going to have to notice. This was going to be one hell of a visit if even the mere mentioning of Merida's name was making her blush like that.                                                                                                                                                                                     Another knock was heard and a servant's voice came through declaring it was dinner time. At the mention of food Anna perked up and practically bounced to the door, "Great! I'm starving." She declared happily. Elsa shook her head fondly and followed her. Dinner was going to be hell, she knew it- what with having to be polite to the Queen and King and trying not to ogle the princess too obviously. Elsa sent a small prayer to her lucky stars that all the control training she'd had over the years will hold now.

When they got to the Great Hall of the castle they found a big table was set in the middle of it, while servants were running to and fro to get everything ready for the meal. At the head of the huge wooden slab sat King Fergus, in all his vastness, flanked by his wife and daughter who were arguing about something or other in hushed voices. When a servant cleared his throat meaningfully all three of them looked up. Both Elsa and Anna stood rooted to the spot, their eyes glued to Merida, or rather her hair. Before it was all hidden but now it ran wild and free and red and there was just so much of it. Elsa could feel the heat rising to her face again, oh merciful gods, if she thought Merida was beautiful before…

"Your hair is amazing!" Anna was practically gushing as she made her way towards the Scottish Princess, who looked a little shocked at the reaction her hair was causing. From the corner of her eye she could see her mother rolling her eyes but she didn’t care. She smiled at Anna, who took the seat next to her and was now pulling one of her curls to make it bounce, giggling like a child. Merida tried to sneak Queen Elsa a look from under her lashes but the pale queen was too busy glaring at her wayward sister.

"Anna!" Elsa hissed in shock. Anna looked around her, noticing that everyone's eyes were on her and grinned sheepishly, letting go of Merida's hair and sinking low in her seat. Elsa ran her hand over her own hair before she her mask slipped back on and she glided gracefully into the seat next to Queen Elinor. The tension around the table was almost palpable with Queen Elinor glaring at her daughter and Queen Elsa glaring at her sister until the servants hurried in carrying a huge tray of meats and placing it on the table, and the king booming voice calling for everyone to dig in broke it.

During dinner Merida tried to keep her eyes from sliding towards the Arendelle Queen, with partial success. She was chatting with Anna, who was both perky and clumsy and just too impossible not to like. The two girls decided to take a ride through the countryside the following day, and Merida couldn’t be happier to be outside again. She knew her mother wouldn’t approve of her skipping meetings like that but the way she saw it- Anna was a royal guest and she deserved nothing less than someone from the royal family to escort her around, and who was better for than job than her? She wanted to ask Queen Elsa if she would like to join them but the look on her mother's face told her she was already very close to crossing a line. She snuck another look at the beautiful queen, who was making polite conversation with her mother, both of them cutting their food daintily and looking like two peas in a pod of royal regality. She wanted to see Queen Elsa come undone so badly she could almost feel it in the tips of her fingers. Clenching her fists under the table Merida turned towards Anna again, trying to catch the thread of conversation again.

When dinner was finally over she escorted the Queen and Princess back to their rooms, promising to come and wake Anna tomorrow morning for their promised trip. She was glad Elsa didn’t say anything against them going out together, but was slightly disappointed she didn’t say she'd be joining them either. Merida was pretty sure that if only she could get the queen on her own she'd be able to break thought that icy façade, but unfortunately she didn’t get a chance as Elsa refused to let Anna out of her sight. Oh, well, the delegation from Arendelle was scheduled to stay with them for at least a week, so there was plenty of time to woo the Queen into having fun. With that happy thought Merida fell asleep with a smile on her face.

 


	2. Chapter Two- REPOST

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**

Chapter Two

**

****

As promised, Merida took Anna around the countryside the next morning, the two girls shared Angus' wide back as Merida showed the Arendelle princess all her favorite places. Within two days of being there, the two formed a fast and firm friendship. Anna was so happy to get to know other people who weren’t her sister, Kristoff or her own subjects that she just kept on talking and telling Merida stories of her land and all about her disastrous relationship with Hans and how now she was hoping Kristoff will ask for her hand soon. Merida rolled her eyes at that and told Anna without preamble that if she wanted to marry Kristoff that badly she should just ask him herself. The Arendelle princess seemed so shocked by the suggestion Merida decided not to push the point, but it seemed to her Anna was about to wait quite a long time if Kristoff was even half as thick as he sounded. So far Anna managed to avoid letting anything about Elsa's powers slip but just barely. She wasn’t stupid and she understood the importance of keeping Elsa's secret- at least until they knew who they could trust but it wasn’t easy because Merida was so sweet and inspired such trust in Anna that it was hard not to confess all her secrets to the feisty redhead by dinner the same day. 

Merida, on her part, was just glad she could be around someone who was as eager as her to be outside the castle walls- the mere thought of sitting in all those meetings was making her sick and she wondered how Elsa was able to do it without wanting to pull her hair out and scream. That thought made Merida smile, at least if Elsa lost control she won't be so uptight all the time. But for now she was just happy to have a new friend, and she even tried to teach Anna to shoot a bow, in her eyes the highest praise for a new friend but that plan was quickly abandoned when Anna almost shot her own foot. Turns out her clumsiness was only endearing when she wasn’t holding sharp, pointy weapons. 

Merida didn’t see quite enough of Queen Elsa as she wanted, and most of their time together was shared in the company of her parents and other important people as they all discussed trade or shared meals. She was determined to get the queen on her own and make her smile. It seemed quite impossible to her that someone as lively and bubbly as Anna would have a sibling so serious and controlled. Vowing to herself to get Elsa on her own was one thing though, but actually managing it was quite another and as the days flowed by Merida was getting a little desperate. 

She had long since abandoned the hope of finding herself a suitor- much to her mother's chagrin, of course, but here was someone Merida knew she could fall in love with in a blink of an eye if only she could talk to Elsa without her parents constantly hovering over her shoulder! And Merida was stubborn enough when she wanted something and what she wanted right now was to make sure Queen Elsa of Arendelle did not leave the Highlands before she had a chance to get her on her own!

The morning before the Arendelle sisters were set to leave found Merida heading purposefully towards Elsa's room. Her feelings were jumbled up inside her because she's never felt like that before towards anyone, and even though her mother kept trying to find her a suitor that won't cause her acute embarrassment, or physical nausea, she knew she'd never find happiness with one of them. But Elsa made her feel so nervous and so excited at the same time it sometimes felt like she was going to be sick just thinking about it, but at the same time those butterflies in her stomach were making her feel giddy with joy. This was all very confusing, but it made Merida feel so happy at the same time that she didn’t care.  
Gathering up her courage, she knocked on the door. After a while she pressed her ear to it and tried to listen to any noises inside, but the wood was far too thick for that. Merida tried knocking again, louder this time, but no answer came. Huffing, she crossed her arms, turned and slumped against the door. Great! Here she was, ready to seize the opportunity with both hands, when said opportunity didn’t even bother to be in her room! 

After a while she stomped her way through the kitchens, grabbing a couple of apples and went into the courtyard, and over to Angus' stall. If there was one being who'd understand her emotional turmoil, surely it will be good old Angus. When she approached her horse's loose-box, taking a huge bite of one of her apples she saw Angus' dark head bowed and she could hear him neighing in pleasure. Curiously she approached to see none other than Queen Elsa, running her long fingers through Angus' mane and feeding him a carrot.  
Merida stopped on her tracks and simply stared. Elsa seemed so different when she thought no one was seeing her. Her face was relaxed and she was actually smiling. Merida felt her heart clench and the butterflies in her stomach taking flight again and she thickly swallowed her apple bite, Elsa was so beautiful when she smiled, it was almost as if she was a completely different person. Straightening her dress, Merida patted her hair before giving up the useless fight with it and bravely made her way towards Elsa, determined to make the next smile pointed at her. 

"Your majesty." She greeted the pale girl with a slight bow of her head. Elsa's head shot up, her eyes wide. She quickly stepped aside from the horse and clasped her hands together, feeling uncomfortable at being caught petting Merida's horse. Though, in all fairness, she did approach the horse in the hopes of seeing its owner in the first place, even if she wouldn’t admit it to herself. It's been so hard to reconcile her real feelings with her sense of was right and proper for her to do and avoiding Merida all week was difficult, but letting the tight rein of her feeling loose was even harder. 

"You don't have to call me that, your highness." She said softly, feeling a slight blush creeping to her cheeks. She hated the formality of all this! Queen Elinor insisted on using her official title whenever they conversed and Elsa wanted to just shake the other woman and tell her she was fine with just 'Elsa', or even 'Young lass' as the king called her, anything that wasn’t 'Your majesty', really.

"I won't if you don't." Merida said happily and tossed an apple to Angus, who caught it in his mouth and gobbled it down noisily. Elsa looked at the smiling princess, her blue eyes sparkling and felt her blush deepen. One look at Merida, especially when she was looking so happy and Elsa couldn’t possibly remember why it was a bad idea not to just grab the other girl and kiss her until they were both dizzy with lack of oxygen. She took a deep breath and summoned all the self control she possessed to combat this inappropriate feeling. Elsa had already decided to cut her loses and slip back into her room, continuing in her grand tradition of avoiding Merida, but she soon realized she was standing in the middle of Angus' stall and Merida was right in front of her, blocking her way to solitude and leaving her with no dignified way of escaping. "I was looking for you actually," Merida said, fiddling with her half eaten apple nervously, the way Elsa's demeanor chanced so quickly was making her rethink her brilliant plan- if Elsa didn’t feel the same as she did there was really no point in chasing her around like a love-sick puppy. But it wasn’t in Merida's nature to back down from a challenge and unless Elsa told her in no uncertain terms to get lost she refused to back down, "I was wondering if you'd like to go out for a bit, you haven’t been out of the castle since you got here and, I don't know, Anna kept on saying how much you'd love to see places and I was just wondering…" 

"Yes." Elsa found herself replying breathlessly, surprising even herself. Merida's head shot up in shock but she quickly recovered and her face broke into a huge grin. 

"Great, let's go!" She cried and wasted no time guiding Angus out of his loose box before Elsa could change her mind and shut her out again. She led Elsa to a box on which she could climb and hop more comfortably on Angus' back, she tried to sneak in a touch or two under the pretence of helping Elsa up, but if the Queen noticed she did not respond. Climbing onto the wide horseback she sat herself behind Elsa. Elsa stiffened at the closeness, suddenly realizing what she signed herself into. She had half a mind to ask Merida to get her another horse but Merida was already urging the large steed into motion. Merida felt the way Elsa stiffened up but she was determined not to let herself back out, besides, even Anna was quite stiff at first, riding Angus' back so Merida almost managed to convince herself Elsa's reaction had to do with the horse and not her. She gently guided the horse into an easy canter, her arms resting lightly at the sides of Elsa's thighs, and tried to give the other girl as much room as she could, because if Elsa didn’t relax soon she'd be very sore when she got down from the horse and Merida really didn’t want to be responsible for any pains the Queen will suffer from irresponsible riding. 

Angus, feeling this was an unusual trip in every bone in his equine body trotted slowly, trying not to jostle the girls on his back. Slowly he made his way through the woods, knowing by instinct where his princess wanted him to go. Up on the horse's back, Elsa tried to relax, with no real success. She could feel the heat radiating from Merida's body on her back and that made it all the more difficult to relax. She silently cursed herself for not foreseeing any of this, though a part of her just wanted to lean back into Merida's heat and feel her arms wrap around her body- Elsa clamped hard on that thought and balled her gloved hands into fists. She looked around her and tried to get lost in the scenery instead, but the fact they were riding through the ancient thick woods wasn’t making it much easier for her to let go- she was used to more open spaces, down the Arendelle fjord and up her beloved mountains. She hated not seeing the sky- even though you couldn’t really see the Northern lights in these parts she still liked to see the sky at all times, it centered her and calmed her. Here the trees were so thick and close it was hard to see much of anything actually, and the little snippets of sky she caught sight of between the tree tops were far from satisfying her soul.

Before she could convince herself not to go into a full blown claustrophobic panic attack the horse stopped and Elsa looked curiously around her. Merida slipped easily from Angus' wide back and held her hand to Elsa. The Queen slipped from the horse's back right into Merida's arms and for a moment the two stood and stared at each other, Elsa pressed tightly between Angus, who didn’t seem in any hurry to move away and Merida. Eventually the princess seemed to remember herself and stepped backwards with a small embarrassed cough. Running her hand through her unruly hair Merida turned to the path and started walking briskly, calling for Elsa to follow behind her shoulder. 

Elsa pulled herself up and followed the mop of bouncing red curls, rubbing her hands over her arms. The place was making her feel uneasy and she couldn’t even say why, but the closer they got to their destination the edgier she felt, and she knew it had nothing to do with the fact she was alone with Merida. It seemed that even the air was thicker down here, making it difficult to breathe, and the light was fading even though it wasn’t midday yet. The trees also looked much closer together and the forest canopy was almost completely obscuring the sky, even more than before. 

"Here we are." Merida declared proudly and Elsa looked up to see the forest has opened up into a clearing, dominated by a huge circle of dark grey standing stones in front of her. "They say the stones are magical, most people don’t dare coming here, let alone step between the stones, but I find them… relaxing, in a way." The princess prattled on as she got closer to the circle, and put her hand on the nearest massive slab. Turning around she looked over to Elsa who was not looking as impressed as Merida hoped. In fact, the pale Arendelle girl looked positively frightened. "Elsa, is everything alright?" 

Elsa could feel the tremors building inside her; something was wrong, very very wrong. Her hands were trembling and she felt like her body was being crushed from all sides by the mere sight of the stones. Her head was getting light and her vision was swimming. She tried shaking the feeling and keep moving but with each step she took towards the stones and Merida her body seemed to resist more, until she couldn’t go further, her legs crumbling under her. The last thing she could hear before the darkness took her was Merida's panicked voice calling her name.


	3. Chapter Three- REPOST

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Chapter Three

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When Elsa came to it was to the sound of running water. She gingerly opened her eyes and her vision filled with red curls. She blinked a few times until she could focus and realized she was lying on the ground and Merida was leaning over her, looking down with concern. 

"Are you alright?" After Elsa collapsed Merida was in a near panic state- this was definitely not how she envisioned this day going! All she wanted was to show Elsa some of her favorite places and hopefully make her comfortable enough to smile and laugh, and well, perhaps steal a kiss from those beautiful lips- but definitely not causing her to faint and possibly ruin all her chances with the queen and any business relations between their countries! Together with Angus she grabbed the fallen queen and they rode to the Fire Falls, where she had laid Elsa down and splashed some cold water on her face. Luckily Elsa was waking up, and Merida felt her whole body trembling with relief. If word of this got back to her mother she'd be in so much trouble! 

"What happened?" Elsa accepted Merida's help and sat up, rubbing her head and looking around her. Gone were the horrible stones and she found she was sitting at the bank of a swift stream, the end result of massive, formidable falls. The sun was shining brightly again and the air was full of sparkling waterfall drops and the sweet scent of grassy meadows. Elsa could feel her body relaxing and her head clearing at the sight of the falls and the stone cliffs- mountains were her home after all.

"Well, I'm not sure." Merida confessed lowly, sitting besides Elsa and pulling her knees to her chest, "I took you over to see the stones, but you suddenly collapsed, your skin was completely white and there was frost all around you." Elsa's breath hitched and she looked down at her hands, she cast a sidelong glance at Merida to make sure her gaze was firmly on the water before she pulled away one of her trusty gloves and sparked a tiny snowflake, just to make sure she could. She nearly melted with relief when she realized her powers were still working. "Your sister said you were special, but I never thought the stones will affect you so much, I'm really sorry." She turned to Elsa with pleading eyes. Elsa smiled softly, placing her hand on Merida's shoulder lightly, the poor princess looked so miserable in her guilt that Elsa couldn’t possibly stay mad at her. 

"It's alright. There was no way you could have known." Licking her lips nervously she locked eyes with Merida before she sparked a shower of snowflakes, rising to the air in a beautiful swirling formation, and then falling softly to rest on Merida's fiery curls before melting. Merida's jaw dropped in shock and her eyes glinted.

"That's amazing!" She cried joyfully, and Elsa shrugged softly, though she couldn’t quite hide her smile, she was in a very bad way if a simple praise from Merida was causing her to warm up from the inside like that. Suddenly Merida's face fell, and her eyes opened up big and frightened, "If I knew you had powers, I never would have taken you to the stones! They steal away magic!" Elsa pulled her knees to her chest as well and looked apologetically at Merida, 

"I'm sorry I didn’t tell you, I guess I was nervous about what you'd think." She confessed, not daring to look Merida directly in the eyes, the Scottish Princess however, rose to her knees, her eyes sparkling with awe, 

"Are you joking? This is the best thing I've ever seen!" She gushed, grabbing Elsa's hands without even thinking about it. Elsa froze, and then Merida froze, realizing she was practically kneeling between Elsa's knees and holding her hands. Swallowing hard, it took Merida all but a second to make up her mind and she leaned forward to press her lips to Elsa's.   
Elsa's natural response was to freeze, and push Merida away, but something kept her from doing that. It could have been the fact that Merida was still holding her hands and not complaining about how cold they were, or the fact that she's been thinking of doing exactly that from the second she laid eyes on the Scottish Princess. Either way, she soon found herself responding to the kiss. Merida's hand slowly left Elsa's hand and traveled up to her shoulder, then neck as she sought to deepen the kiss. This felt good, so very good. And so, so overdue!  
When they broke apart for air both girls were flushed and breathing heavily. They gazed at each other's eyes and smiled, suddenly shy. Merida pulled back, sitting on her haunches and bit her lip uncertainly. She wanted to dive right back in and kiss Elsa again but she wasn’t sure how the gesture will be received. This was already better than everything she dared dreaming before- Elsa's lips were soft and chilled while her tongue was hot and the dual sensation was making Merida see stars. Elsa lifted her hand slowly, and buried it in Merida's thick hair, feeling the silky curls tangling in her fingers before she tugged slightly and brought Merida back in for another kiss. The movement was so unexpected it caused Merida to lose her balance and resulted in her falling forward. 

Merida looked down at the girl prostrate under her. Elsa's hand was still tangled in her hair and she didn’t show any sign of wanting to change positions, so Merida lowered her head and kissed her again, her hand scrambling for the band that was holding Elsa's hair together. Elsa could feel her braid unraveling but for the first time ever, she didn’t care what she looked like or the fact that her dress and hair were probably stained full of mud from the riverbank. For the first time in forever she wasn’t thinking, planning or worrying- just feeling.   
Pushing her leg between Merida's legs she quickly upturned their positions, Merida's hair flying around them and her shriek of surprise filling the air. Elsa laughed gaily as she pinned the other girl under her, raining kisses on her flushed face. Merida's hands went around Elsa's waist, pulling the girl even closer to her and wishing neither of them were wearing so many layers, but this was definitely not the place to start anything- if one of the farmers should happen about and saw the two of them in this position there was no end to the embarrassment, and her mother's scorn. And yet she couldn’t, nor wanted to stop. 

"I've wanted to do this for so long," Elsa murmured into Merida's neck, and the Scottish girl grinned widely in happiness, before turning her face to rub her nose against Elsa's.  
"Me too." She confessed and the two smiled at each other, hands caressing each other's skin softly. Merida just wanted this moment to last forever, but of course it couldn’t and the magic was broken when a loud eagle's shriek was heard above them and Elsa suddenly pulled herself up to her knees, looking around her as if she just remembered they were out in the open, but the only other creature around was Angus who didn’t seem all that interested in what they were doing and opted to trample a bush into submission not far from where the girls were. The spell was broken and she could feel every muscle in her body pull tight at the thought of being seeing in such a state. She should never have let Merida talk her into this! This was wrong, wrong! 

She looked down at Merida who was still lying spread eagle on the ground, her hair in an even bigger mess than usual and a wide smile spread on her flushed face. Elsa smiled softly and sat back, pulling away from the other girl. She ran her hands through her hair, feeling how messy it was as Merida pulled herself into a sitting position, her smile slowly slipping away.   
"We should probably head back; people will start looking for us soon, won't they?" Elsa asked, suddenly very conscious of where she was, how dirty her clothes were and what exactly brought her to this state. This was complete folly; letting herself go like that, what purpose will this serve anyway? She was leaving to go back to Arendelle tomorrow; she was never going to see Merida again so getting herself into this situation was just setting them both for heartbreak. She was going back to Arendelle and Merida was going to stay here, and some day, she was going to have to chose a suitor and marry and then she'd forget all about Elsa and where would that leave her? 'Conceal, don't feel' that was her motto and right now it rang truer than ever. Merida tried to hide her disappointment of the other's girl sudden change of heart. If it was up to her she'd stay here all day long, kissing the beautiful queen, and maybe getting her to show some more of her amazing ice magic, but it seemed like Queen Elsa The Ever Proper and Formal was back and taking over and Merida knew when to cut her loses, even if she didn’t understand what exactly went wrong.

"Sure, we can head back." She said, and tried to smile. Pulling herself to her feet she walked over to where Angus was standing triumphantly over the remnants of the poor bush and pretended to busy herself with checking that her bow was still strapped securely to the horse. Elsa stood alone at the riverbank, her arms wrapped around herself. She needed to stay strong, for both their sakes. She looked over at Merida who was pulling at the straps of Angus' saddle angrily, and then the horse swishing his long tail to hit her on the back of the head in retaliation for her actions. Merida glared at her horse with a pinched expression that made Elsa want to laugh. Instead she walked slowly over and placed a soft hand on Merida's shoulder. The redheaded girl froze in place, before shrugging Elsa's hand off of her, 

"Here, I'll help you up." She said coldly and cupped her hands together for Elsa to step into and onto the horse's back, her eyes cast on the ground the whole time. Elsa didn’t make a move to put her foot into Merida's hands and eventually Merida had no choice but to look up, 

"I'm leaving tomorrow." Elsa said, her voice sad and full of regret. Merida looked away again. It didn’t matter to her one bit that Elsa was leaving, and besides, it wasn’t her fault they had so precious little time together! She could feel in her bones that this wasn’t the real reason for Elsa's change of heart, but right now she didn’t want to know the real reason because she just knew it would hurt too much. 

"I know." Elsa opened her mouth to say something else but realized there was nothing else to say. She sighed and put her foot into Merida's hands, hoisting herself onto Angus' back. Merida followed and the horse turned to walk back to the castle, the two girls on his back sitting stiffly, each absorbed in her own thoughts, their bodies poised as far as possible away from each other, though on occasion the horse's movement brought them into touch and both could feel electric sparks shooting though them every time that happened. When they walked into the castle courtyard they were immediately pounced on by Anna, who was keeping watch at the gate. 

"Where have you been?" She chided both her sister and Merida, "And what on earth happened to you?" She cried when both girls slipped from the horse's back and she could take full stock of their state. She could feel something was amiss by the fact the two of them were standing apart, each holding herself stiffly and refusing to look at the other. Both girls' dresses were a mess of mud stains, but what shocked Anna the most was the fact that Elsa's hair was hanging loose, and the pale locks smudged brown and green. She couldn’t remember seeing her sister's hair outside a strict bun or a tidy braid, ever. She had to admit this was a good look for Elsa, but she could tell this wasn’t the time for this sort of compliments. 

"Angus slipped near the falls and threw us off." Merida said stiffly, as she led the deeply offended horse back to his loose box, leaving Elsa and Anna alone. Anna looked between her sister and her friend, completely lost. Her curiosity was burning but she knew Elsa would rather freeze her heart again than tell her what happened. Eventually she pulled herself together, noting that Elsa was still standing still, arms around herself and looking at the ground, completely lost. Suddenly Anna realized her gloves were missing and she knew Elsa was so close to the cracking point she'd better hurry lest her sister lose control of her powers again and everything they've been working so hard for this past week would be lost. Freezing your own land was bad enough, but freezing someone else's was probably just cause to open war. Or at the least get them kicked out of the Highlands shamefully and that was just as bad. 

"Come on," She said with as much brightness as she could muster, grabbing Elsa's arm and started dragging her sister towards the castle, "Let's go find you some hot water so you can get cleaned up." Elsa went with her sister without protesting, but she turned her head right before entering the castle to see Merida standing by her horse, looking back at her sadly. Quickly averting her eyes Elsa closed the heavy door behind her.


	4. chapter Four- REPOST

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Chapter Four

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The next morning most of the castle inhabitants gathered to bid the Arendelle delegation farewell. Elsa was already mounted on her horse, looking like she wanted to flee the place as soon as possible but Anna refused to leave until she had a chance to say goodbye to Merida who, from some reason, wasn’t there to send them off. Elsa was so tense she thought she might explode with the slightest provocation. It had been a long, hard and sleepless night in which she tossed and turned in her bed and exercised every ounce of self-power she possessed in order to stop herself from getting up and going to find Merida's room, throw away all caution and lose herself in the Scottish princess kisses and touches. But she didn’t, couldn’t and wouldn’t! 

Anna cast yet another side-glance at her sister, completely lost as to what to do. She had tried several times to talk to Elsa about what happened the day before but her sister withdrew into herself and refused to discuss any of it. Asking Merida didn’t produce any more answers but Anna could feel in her bones there was more to the story than simply falling off an horse's back but there was no way she could confirm it if neither girl was collaborating with her. She was just about to march back into the castle to find Merida when the girl showed up, looking unhappy and sporting dark circles under her eyes. She walked over to Anna and gathered her up in a tight hug, the two promising to stay in touch and writing each other. Anna could feel her eyes filling with tears, it was the first time in her life that she's made a girl-friend on her own and now she had to leave her behind. If only she could just throw Merida on the back of her horse and take her back to Arendelle with her. 

Elsa watched from her horse as her sister and Merida said their teary goodbyes and felt the sting behind her own eyes. She didn’t want to leave things with Merida this way, but what could she say? She was heading back home and Merida was staying here, and even if they kept in touch and wrote to each other, it didn’t matter anyway. She belonged in Arendelle and Merida belonged here and the sooner they leave the sooner she could begin to forget about Merida. Elsa had already decided to spend the rest of the summer up the north mountain in her Ice Palace. She needed solitude more than anything right now, a quiet place to contemplate and let her heart forget Merida and heal. 

Merida looked up at the aloof queen, up on her horse. Elsa looked like she couldn’t get away fast enough from her. Her heart clenched painfully and she buried her face in Anna's shoulder, not wanting to see the expression on Elsa's face. She couldn’t understand why Elsa turned so cold so suddenly- even if she had to leave they could still stay in touch. She was almost certain her parents would let her travel to Arendelle at some point to see both Anna and Elsa, so why was Elsa so adamant to nip their relationship in the bud? Pulling back Merida made her way to where her parents were standing, doing her best to look like a proper princess. Her father put a strong comforting hand on her shoulder, and Merida clenched her jaw hard, refusing to succumb to tears, the loving gesture almost undoing her completely. Anna looked between her sister and Merida one last time before she sighed and mounted her horse. Well, they had at least six days travel between here and home and that was plenty of time to crack Elsa! 

As soon as the last of the Arendelle horses disappeared from view Merida turned around and ran back to the castle, unheeding to her parents calls and up to her room, slamming the door after her. She tossed herself on her bed and let the tears flow, she waited her entire life to fall in love and feel so strongly about someone but she never banked on the pain of separation being as powerful. Everything was so short and so intense it left Merida's head spinning. 

"What on earth has gotten into that girl?" King Fergus wondered loudly, he wasn’t used to see his only daughter so distraught and frankly, it scared him a little.   
"I think she might be in love." Said Queen Elinor, her voice laced with wonderment, as if she herself didn't believe her own words. The king cast a doubtful glance at his wife but Elinor was already deep in thought. 

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For days after the Arendelle girls left, Merida was wondering the castle like a ghost. She mostly shut herself in her room and only came down to meals after much cajoling from her parents, though she hardly ate anything. Mostly she just prodded her food and refused to talk to anyone else at the table. She hardly took Angus out anymore and when she did they rode hard and fast and as far away as possible until both were breathless with exertion, but Merida never took her horse anywhere close to the Fire Falls. Even the return of the triplets didn’t lift the princess' spirits and her parents began to get really worried for her health.

Queen Elinor tried to talk to her daughter several times but the girl was in no mood to listen, and eventually the queen gave up knowing that if she pushed too hard there was no telling what Merida might do- after all, being a bear once was quite enough for Elinor. 

The King tried his best to engage his daughter in all her favorite activities, archery and traveling and even dragged her on one of his excursions abroad, but when they returned he confessed to his wife the girl had barely eaten or slept and had refused to sit in any of their meetings. Both the king and queen were at their wit's end regarding their daughter.

Princess Merida was depressed, and no one knew what to do to fix it. 

Back in Arendelle things weren’t looking all that promising either. After a long and emotionally draining trip back home, Elsa promptly left for the North Mountain and refused to come down from there. Anna, together with Kristoff tried to approach her and speak to her but Elsa refused to see either of them and even threaten to send her abominable snowman after them again. 

Anna wasn’t sure what to do, she could take her sister's place quite easily, at least until Elsa came to her senses and decided to come down again, but she wasn’t entirely sure how long that would take. After all, the last time Elsa shut herself up there she didn’t plan on coming down at all. Something happened between her sister and Merida and she was determined to find out what. She even tired to send Olaf up to the Ice Palace to reason with Elsa but the poor snowman came back two days later, frightened to his snowy core, saying Elsa had threatened to melt him down if he stayed. This was all so vexing! What was wrong with her sister? Why was she acting so strangely? 

Queen Elsa was hiding again and Anna was out of ideas as to how to lure her back into Arendelle. She did, however, write to Merida, telling her all about the happenings in the castle and how life in Arendelle was going. She thought long and hard about breaching the subject of Elsa but the memory of the two of them purposefully not looking at each other on the day they left the Highlands stopped her each time. 

Anna waited for weeks to hear back from Merida, and was almost giving up when a letter finally arrived. Merida's note was short, and didn’t have much in the way of news but Anna took it as a sign that things were about to improve, and even if Elsa kept her brooding up in the mountains at least Merida was getting over their fight, or whatever it was that happened between them. Encouraged by Merida's letter, Anna started plotting- she was going to get these two girls to talk to each other if it was the last thing she did!

The summer passed, and autumn came. The days were shortening, the air was getting cooler, and Anna was losing her patience. She didn’t ask to be queen, in fact- she wasn’t the queen! But in the absence of her sister she'd had to take charge of her realm and frankly, she wasn’t much enjoying it. Elsa was the one who could deal with people, she was the one who could control her temper and be diplomatic in every situation, Anna was brash and feisty and tended to say what was on her mind and hated having to be polite for the sake of politeness. Anna was restless, perky and loved to talk- and embarrass herself in the process, more often than not. Her personality was perfect for breaking the ice at formal balls and but certainly not when she was meant to deal with people seriously- that was usually when Elsa came in and took over. Kristoff was no real help in the matter, to be honest, as he was even worse at dealing with people than his girlfriend. At least Hans grew up as a prince so he could be trusted to know the ways of a royal court, but Kristoff, who spent most of his time alone in the mountain with only Sven for company was quite a lost cause. 

Finally she was fed up with her sister's behavior and decided to get up and bring Elsa down back to Arendelle kicking and screaming if she had to. She set off alone, leaving a much reluctant Kristoff in charge and even forbade Olaf to follow her. When she got to the North Mountain she saw Elsa's palace glinting in the distance, and urged her horse forward with determination. When she reached the glistening doors she didn’t even bother to knock and simply marched in. 

The palace was eerily quiet, the only sounds around were little crackling noises from the ice and Anna felt like she should trade lightly not to disturb the silence. She advanced slowly, partly because she wasn’t sure what to expect if Elsa suddenly showed up and partly because the floor was incredibly slippery. Suddenly her foot contacted with something on the floor, she stumbled, slipped and after a short battle with gravity lost with a painful falling on her backside. Anna rose to her knees, rubbing her sore behind when she noticed that all around her were laying large pieces of ice, as if Elsa had conjured up an ice sculpture and then blew it up to smithereens. Picking up one of the largest pieces Anna nearly dropped it in shock when she realized what she was looking at. The piece showed part of a face, an eye, cheek and some hair, but even that was enough for Anna to recognize the curls of Merida. 

"What are you doing here?" Anna looked up; Elsa was standing at the top of the staircase, wearing her old sparkly green dress with the sheer, snowflake woven veil. Her eyes were cold and angry, especially when she saw what her sister was holding. The last thing she needed right now was for Anna to come snooping around and start with her questions again. What was so hard to understand in 'I want to be alone!'? Anna rose to her feet, trying to keep her balance on the slippery ice and looked down at the piece of Merida's ice sculpture in her hand. Well, desperate times call for desperate measures, and this was definitely a desperate time for her! Looking up at Elsa she narrowed her eyes and threw the piece of ice on the floor as hard as she could, shattering it into even smaller fragments. 

"What is wrong with you?" She cried accusingly at her sister. Elsa looked quite shocked at the outburst- when she saw Anna coming into her domain she expected her sister to grovel and plead for her to return, as she have before, she certainly didn’t expect her to stand defiantly in the middle of the parlor with her arms crossed and her expression angry. "What happened back in the Highlands that got you so… insane?" Anna was practically yelling now, because she was fed up with her sister's secrets and seeing the sculpture of her friend smashed on the floor annoyed her even more, it was so confusing! If there was one thing Anna hated was when things were so confusing she couldn’t find her hands and legs in the mess and nobody bothered to explain things to her- it made her feel so inadequate and reverted her to the state of a five years old girl who watched her sister disappear behind her door without an explanation, leaving Anna to fend for herself.

"It's none of your business." Elsa said as coldly as she could, though her cheeks were flushed pink and her hands grasped the icy railing so tightly, she could feel it crack under her fingers and tiny splinters pricking her palms and even this pain was welcome. During the summer, ever since she came back from Scotland she worked so hard during the day to convince herself that she did the right thing and that she needed to rejoin her subjects and go back to her previous life, before she met Merida, and most of the time she managed to do that, and was about to head down from the mountain at least a dozen times each day but then the night came, and with it came the dreams and the memories, which caused her to wake up gasping, covered in cold sweat with tears streaming down her face. Most of the time she couldn’t even tell if her tears were shed for the loss of what she could have had with Merida if only she'd let herself feel or for herself and her loveless fate. 

"Yes it is!" Anna yelled back, she wanted to stomp her foot to show her annoyance but thought better for it when her feet started sliding slightly when she tried to move them. "It is my business when you shut yourself up here and expect me to take care of everything! It is my business when my new best friend is writing three lines letters because she's too depressed to do anything!" Elsa's heart clenched at the mention of Merida and her grip on the railing tightened, but she refused to let any outwards signs of distress show. "You need to come down and stop acting like a spoiled child!" 

"I think you should leave." Elsa said coldly, but that only spurred Anna on, because she wasn’t going to leave without at least getting to the bottom of this mess, and short of physically throwing her out Elsa could do nothing about it!

"What did she ever do to you?" She asked harshly, "What happened that day at the falls? You didn’t fall off of Angus' back, I know that much." She bent over and picked another piece of the Merida sculpture, "Why do you hate her so much?" Elsa closed her eyes in pain, if only things were that simple. 

"I don't hate her." She whispered softly. The whole point of making the ice sculpture was because she didn’t hate Merida, quite the contrary, and that was the reason it lay in pieces on the floor- it was just too painful to remember. 

"Then what is it?" Anna demanded, "What happened that made you shut out the world again?" When Elsa looked away sadly, blinking back tears it suddenly hit Anna, "Oh, no…" She whispered and took a step towards her sister, only to step on another piece of ice and ending up sprawled on her back on the ice floor for the second time that day. So much for being graceful… Grunting in annoyance Anna picked herself up but remained seated on the floor, it was safer this way. "Why didn’t you tell me?" 

"What difference does it make?" Elsa shrugged. Anna sighed, why don't people ever learn? Secrets were like poison to the body, and caused indigestion, that was what her mother always taught her. Too bad Elsa only listened to their father. 

"It does make a difference. If you're in love you shouldn’t be this miserable." Elsa looked down at the girl sitting on the floor. Her sister was so naïve, even after all they've been through, even after everything she's been through, that it was almost heartbreaking. Of course Anna thought love was the answer, for her it was very simple- she didn’t have the whole kingdom on her shoulders. She was free to make her own choices without thinking of the consequences, and Anna was extremely good at not thinking of the consequences, but Elsa had duties, responsibilities and she couldn’t simply do what she wanted. Elsa slowly took the steps down, her feet felt as heavy as lead, but there was no point in delaying her return anymore, because clearly her time up here wasn’t doing anything to ease her pain, quite the contrary in fact. 

"It doesn’t matter anymore." She said gravely, as she helped the flailing Anna back to her feet. "I'll go back with you, but we're not going to discuss this anymore." Anna opened her mouth to rebel but snapped it shut when she saw the expression on her sister's face. Grumbling a little she finally nodded and allowed Elsa to help her make their way out of the Ice Palace. A small victory was still a victory and she wasn’t about to push her luck. Besides, Elsa will soon find out what happens when she left Anna alone and in charge and if she didn’t like it- well, that will be a lesson well learned.


	5. Chapter Five- REPOST

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Chapter Five

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It's been almost four months since the Arendelle girls left and still Merida was not showing much improvement, still haunting her own castle like a ghost. The Queen was at loss as for what to do for her daughter and even the King has lost his usual smiling and booming disposition, his brow furrowed with new lines of worry for his only daughter, when the answer came to them one day in the shape of a formal letter. 

The Queen took the parchment from the offered tray, looking curiously at the official Arendelle sigil- this wasn’t one of Anna's letters, the girl never bothered with such formality. She cast a glance around the table, making sure Fergus was busy with teaching the triplets to growl and quickly broke the seal and scanned through the words before a big smile started to spread over her face.

"Fergus!" She cried, causing the king and his sons to jump slightly in their seats. "Boys! Outside!" The Queen ordered and the three boys quickly scrambled to their feet and fled the hall in a mess of red curls and flying kilts. The King, who suddenly found himself alone and in his wife's complete focus, looked up slightly worried, usually when Elinor got this sort of glint in her eyes it did not bode well for him. 

"What it is dear?" Queen Elinor thrust the letter into his hands triumphantly,

"The answer to our problem." She replied promptly. The King looked down at the parchment, where it stated that Queen Elsa and Princess Anna of Arendelle was inviting them to her castle for a formal winter ball. Looking up at his bouncing wife again, the King sighed, 

"You want to send Merida, don't you?" The Queen nodded vigorously, "Are you sure that a good idea?" The Queen nodded again, her smile growing. "But… But are you sure she'll even want to see the princess again?" The smile slipped off the Queen's face and was replaced with a confused frown, 

"Why wouldn’t she want to see Princess Anna, they're friends." The King's face contorted into a pained expression, his usual when dealing with matters he knew nothing about and needed his wife to break it down for him into tiny nuggets of information,

"But you said she was in love with her." The Queen rolled her eyes impressively, Och, so close… and yet miles from the mark. 

"I never said such a thing!" She answered primly, "It's not the princess who broke our wee Merida's heart, it's the queen." The King's jaw dropped in shock, and he sagged back into his chair heavily, missing it and landing on the hard stone floor with a loud thud. He picked himself slowly form the floor, rubbing his sore backside and managed to find his chair. The King ran his hand over his beard, deep in thought for a moment, and Elinor allowed him a moment to reach his conclusions, before turning back to his wife,

"I'm not sure I like this plan to be honest," He said, shaking his massive head, "I don't want to see the poor lass getting even more hurt." The Queen shook her head, 

"She won't be!" She said with firm conviction, "She needs to go there and confront her feelings, before she fades away completely!" The King sighed, he knew where his own strengths lay, and this sort of thing was definitely his wife's forte. 

"Alright dear, I trust you." The royal couple looked at each other before both nodded sharply in agreement. The Queen turned and called for a servant to fetch Merida, and after about ten minutes, the princess came stomping down the stairs, looking petulant and cross. Her parents reached for each other's hands subconsciously at the sight of their daughter- her eyes were no longer shining, her gait was no longer strutting and confident and even her hair, her magnificent hair seemed miserable. Her curls lie almost flat on her head, devoid of life and spring, and that more than anything suggested that the princess was in a very bad way. 

"What do you want?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest when she stood in front of parents. The King and Queen exchanged another look before they both took a unified step towards their first born. Merida looked suspiciously between the two- something was up, and it involved her, and it was definitely something she wouldn’t like hearing otherwise they'd say it already. 

"Listen, wee dear," Her father started, his voice almost pleading, "Your mother and I have something we want to discuss with you." Merida huffed in annoyance, great, another one of her parents awkward pep talks. She'd been receiving them all summer and they did nothing to help her mood. She was miserable and frankly, she began to accept the fact she might feel this way for the rest of her life. She was always the sort of person to feel things to the extreme and though she never thought she'd fall in love before she had, and it was so powerful and so fast that in a way it didn’t surprise her how much it hurt now. 

"Is it about those suitors again? Because I don’t want to hear it!" She snapped, her expression turning into that determined refusal she always wore when the subject came up. Although she had a feeling this was not it, her parents did love her after all and they would never put her through that again, not in the state she was currently in, but it was the fastest way to get her parents to talk. The King glanced at his wife again, begging for help and Queen Elinor took a step forward, leaving the shelter of the unified front and letting go of her husband's hand, 

"Not exactly," She told her daughter, "We're sending you to Arendelle." Merida's eyes widened in shock, this was definitely the last thing she expected her parents to say. The names Arendelle and Queen Elsa had become something of a forbidden subject around the castle as of late and Merida's heart clenched painfully at hearing the name Arendelle again. 

"No!" The Queen placed a gentle hand on her daughter's shoulder, looking her straight in the eyes, trying to convey to her daughter that she had absolutely no choice in the matter and if she resisted she might very well find herself thrust and bound to the back of a horse to take her to the Fjords land. 

"There's a formal winter ball and the Queen has sent us an invitation. We need to send someone." Merida took a step back and glared at her mother, how on earth did her mother could possibly think this was a good idea? Did she completely miss the way she's been hurting lately? Frankly, she gave her mother a lot more credit than that. 

"Then you go!" She snapped, "I'm not your ambassador!" 

"No," The Queen said her voice still soft but with a hint of steel hidden in it, "But you _are_ in love with the Queen." Merida stumbled backwards in shock; she looked from one parent to another like a frightened little woodland creature before she turned on her heel and ran up the stairs. Queen Elinor sighed, turning back to her husband, who seemed completely lost and gestured for him to follow her as they made their way to Merida's room. 

"Merida!" Queen Elinor rapped sharply on the door, "Open the door dear," When no answer came she knocked again, this time using her fist, "Merida, if you don't open this door right now, I'm going to take an axe to it!" 

"Elinor!" The King gasped in shock, "You can't do that! These doors are centuries old, my great great grandfather built them!" The Queen turned to her husband with a scanting glare, 

"Fergus, please focus!" The King looked like he was about to add something, probably defending his ancestors woodwork some more when the door creaked open. The Queen raised her eyebrow triumphantly at her stunned husband and brushed past him to enter the room. Merida was standing by the window, looking out through the stained glass with her back at her parents. 

"You knew?" She asked softly, not daring to turn and see the expressions on her parents' faces. The King and Queen exchanged another look before they stepped further into the room and reached their daughter, enveloping the shocked princess in a hug. 

"My poor bonny child," The King sniffled, his huge arms going around both his wife and daughter. "Getting your wee heart broken like that…" Merida looked up to see her father's face, he looked positively relieved now that he could finally pin what was wrong with his child, his beard was quivering with emotion as he sympathized with his daughter's pain. Every morning he woke up to see his beautiful Elinor by his side he thanked his stars and was beyond glad to be alive and in love, so he could appreciate how much pain his daughter was in, not having her loved one beside her. 

"Fergus, dear, why don’t you go and write Arendelle back, saying we'd be delighted to accept their invitation, while I talk to Merida." The Queen was taking charge of the situation again, knowing that if she wanted Merida to consent to the trip to Arendelle she had better do it alone, because as much as she loved Fergus, and as much as he loved Merida, he was just not very good at this sort of thing. Besides, the two of them were so much alike she was pretty sure if she left it in the hands of her husband she'd be back to find them both on the floor bowling for the loss of love and then she'll have two miserable souls on her hands. Good thing at least the triplets got her practical personality. 

The King pulled himself away from the hug, sniffling a little and brushing a stray tear from his eyes before he hobbled to the door and closed it behind him. Elinor pulled her daughter gently towards the bed and sat them both. Merida was still looking shocked and bewildered at her parents' behavior and went unresisting. She knew they saw her misery, they've been doing their best to lift it ever since it started but she thought she was clever enough to hide the real reason behind it. But as it turned out, her mother saw right through her again. 

"What happened dear?" Elinor asked gently, her hand caressing her daughter's softly. Merida's eyes were firmly on the floor but she wrapped her fingers around her mother's, a part of her so relieved to have her parents finding out the truth so that she could finally let go of some of the pain that was gnawing at her guts for so long. 

"I don’t know," She said slowly, "Everything was going great, and then it wasn’t." Memories flashed through her mind and she squeezed her mother's hand sharply, trying to hold back the tears. Elinor wrapped her free arm around the distraught girl's shoulder, and sighed, 

"I'm so sorry dear." Merida blinked and looked up at her mother, an apology from Queen Elinor was so rare it was quite a shock hearing it, 

"What for?" 

"Well, for one thing, pushing all those suitors your way." The Queen confessed with a small smile, "Clearly I was going completely the wrong way about it." Merida let out a small chuckle, was it possible that if only she'd acknowledge her real feelings sooner she'd be spared of hours of agony? "But now that I do know what to look for," The Queen continued briskly, "I'm sure there are plenty of lovely princesses who'd love to meet you!" Merida groaned loudly, launching herself backwards on the bed, great! She should have seen this coming! 

"Awww, mum!" She cried. Elinor looked down at her daughter, and couldn’t help laughing. Merida looked up at her mother, who was laughing so hard her whole body was bouncing and couldn’t help but join herself. Ye Gods, it felt good to laugh again, and Merida suddenly realized it was the first time she laughed in so long, that it made her sides ache and her breath short but it felt so good, so liberating that she couldn’t stop. When they finally calmed down Elinor pulled her daughter back into a sitting position, hugging her tight,

"That is, unless you go to Arendelle and fix things." Merida's smile slipped away as fast as a salmon swimming downstream. 

"Fix how? I don’t even know what I did wrong!" She cried, pulling at her hair in despair, after all that was the whole problem- she didn’t know what went wrong! As much as she hated the idea of new suitors- be them girls or boys she hated the idea of going to Arendelle even more. Elsa made it clear she did not want to see Merida, and Merida, despite her thrill seeking, challenge loving personality was really not up for this particular challenge. Why set herself for another heartbreak when she hasn’t even gotten over the first one?

"There is only one person who has the answer to that." The Queen commented sagely and Merida realized that she was left with no alternative but to go to Arendelle, because she'd learned long ago that no matter how much she resisted and fought her mother, in the end- the Queen was always right. Part of her was actually happy about that because before everything went pear shaped she and Anna discussed her coming over to Arendelle for a visit, but another part of her was so scared of seeing Elsa again it was almost paralyzing. 

The Queen gave her daughter time to adjust to the idea of going to face her fears. She knew her daughter well enough, and Merida wasn’t the sort to just sit back and let life decide for her- she was a firstborn of clan Dunbroch, and that meant she was a fighter, and eventually she was going to fight for what she wanted! The Queen only hoped that who her daughter set her heart on was good enough for her. Because if Merida came back from Arendelle in this sorry state, or worse, the Queen would have no qualms about taking all four clans and taking Arendelle down! Because no matter how much she and Merida fought and bickered she was still her daughter and Elinor was fiercer than a mother bear when it came to the happiness of her children!

"Alright." Merida eventually said, resigned to her fate, "I'll go."


	6. Chapter Six- REPOST

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! And for reviewing.

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**

Chapter Six

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Merida began her journey to Arendelle the next morning. After a teary goodbye to her family she mounted Angus and followed the rest of the official Highlands party, heading west. Her heart was lightened considerably knowing that even if things didn’t work out in Arendelle she was always welcome home, as both her mother and father assured her. Right now she refused to think of anything else, because she had a long journey ahead of her and if she succumbed to her feelings on this early stage there was no way she was going to make it all the way to Arendelle. 

The journey took the Highlands delegation to the northern sea, where they took a ship the rest of the way. One of things that made Arendelle so hard to conquer was the fact that it was approachable from the sea alone, and as much as Merida hated sailing- and she pretty much despised it, mostly because she knew nothing of sailing and she hated not being in control, she realized she had very little choice in the subject. 

Most of the journey itself she spent in the bow of the boat, wrapped tightly in her winter cloak and leaning again Angus' wide frame, whom she refused to leave behind, looking ahead of her. The snow hasn’t begun to fall yet, but the air was cold and the wind was blowing rather harshly and so the boatmen decided to keep close to shore to avoid nasty surprises. Merida kept her eyes on the vast expenses of steel grey waters stretching around her. In the distance she could see icebergs bobbing and floating but she refused to look at them, icebergs were made of ice and ice was Elsa, and she wasn’t going to be thinking of Elsa!

She was going to see Anna, Merida kept telling herself, she was going to see Anna and she was excited about it! She was going to see Anna, and Kristoff- wasn’t that nice? Anna said that Kristoff was very tall and blond and had a weird thing about his reindeer Sven, though right after she said that she took a look at Merida and Angus and quickly changed the subject. Anna, she was her friend, and they were going to have fun! Traveling around the fjords, climbing to the roof of the castle, looking at the sky- Anna kept on going on and on about the northern lights and how beautiful they were and Merida couldn’t wait to see them for herself. 

Most of the time Merida managed to convince herself that it will be alright, that she would actually have fun with her friend and see all those new and wonderful places, but sometimes a certain image crept through, of a certain blond girl sprawled under her, her beautiful hair undone and her lips kiss-swollen. Those were the bad nights.

After almost a week Merida was quite sick and tired of the journey- she was never at home at sea and all she wanted was to feel solid ground beneath her. Her emotions were running so high it made her jumpy and easy to snap and as a result most of the crew tried to avoid her. Even Angus sneered reproachfully at her on more than one occasion, and she got more tail slaps than she could count, so when the man shouted from the top of the crow's nest they were entering the Arendelle fjord everyone was breathing a relieved sigh. Merida scrambled to her feet and ran to the railing, eager to see her first ever fjord. Luckily Elsa's rejection hadn’t killed the last of her natural curiosity. 

She looked up in astonishment at the sheer high cliffs surrounding her. The walls were mostly barren, and the stone shone in the sunlight looking almost purple in color, and in turn gave the icy water of the fjord a deep deep blue hue, the snowy caps reflecting perfectly on the quiet water, disturbed only by the ripples their ship caused. The air was much warmer inside the fjord, where the wind couldn’t reach and quiet, it was so quiet it was almost eerie. She could actually hear every creak of the ship's wood, every strain of rope. The boat turned slightly and suddenly there was Arendelle, nestling in the curve of the mountain, the wood and stone castle friendly and inviting, its torrents spiking high. Merida grabbed the railing tightly- this was it, no more pretending they were going to get lost and end up somewhere else, this was Arendelle and this was her fate and she had to face it, preferably head on. 

It took them almost an hour to actually reach the Arendelle harbor where they were greeted by a pompously official. Everyone looked at Merida, waiting for her to dismount, but the girl found that even though she wanted nothing more than solid land under her feet she couldn’t take a step forward. Eventually it was Angus who pressed his large head to his princess' back and literally pushed her towards the gangway. He didn’t have any qualms about seeing or not seeing a certain someone- he just wanted off the boat.

The walk up the castle was quite a similar story, Merida's fingers were tangled in Angus' mane and the horse was practically leading his owner along. Merida felt like she was about to explode, she wasn’t sure what she wanted more, to see Elsa or not to see her. All those conflicting emotions were making her feel sick to her stomach and she just wanted to turn around and order the boat to take her home. She was just turning her head to ask the captain to do just that when the doors to the hall opened up and Angus pushed her forwards none too gently. Merida stumbled into the hall, luckily surrounded by her people so that she didn’t make a complete fool of herself just yet. 

"Merida!" Anna's shriek was filling the hall, and before Merida could get her bearings she was snatched by the excited princess, and grabbed in an enthusiastic hug which Merida returned as soon as she realized what was going on. Anna was her friend, she was safe, and she was familiar and Merida was grateful for her presence. Anna didn’t waste a minute to drag her friend away from the formalities despite the bailiff cry for her to stop. She was determined to make Merida's first memories of Arendelle happy ones, and that meant keeping her away from Elsa- especially the way Elsa's been acting since she found out Anna had organized the ball in her absence. The two had a big row about it, Anna claimed it was all Elsa's fault for shutting herself up in the mountains- she knew how much Anna loved parties, and she should have anticipated something like that! Lately Elsa became all the more sulky and even started wearing gloves again; afraid her powers will overcome her, and Anna tried to be a good sister and all, but frankly- she was beyond happy that Merida was finally here to take care of her own business, but with that said, Anna felt it was best if she got Merida first so she didn’t have to pick up the pieces of two broken hearts if things went bad. 

The Scottish princess had hardly time to get her feet under her before she found herself running along the corridor, Anna's auburn plaits skipping on her back and leading the way. They ended up in a comfortable sitting room, dominated by a large fire. In front of it sat a large boy, who was playing chess with someone Merida couldn’t quite see. When he saw her and Anna he rose to his feet immediately and came to greet them with a big smile introducing himself as Kristoff. Merida shook his hand warmly, happy to finally meet the man that dominated Anna's letters. From behind Kristoff suddenly popped a little snowman, running excitedly towards Merida, who took a step back in shock,

"Hi, I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!" The little snowman announced happily, spreading his stick arms in invitation. Merida cast a side glance at Anna, who grinned sheepishly- she never mentioned Olaf before, mostly because it was easier to understand by actually meeting him, 

"Anna," Merida said quietly, talking from the side of her mouth, not taking her eyes off of Olaf, who was still standing grinning with arms wide open, "Why is there a wee snow beastie trying to hug me?" 

"This is Olaf, he's quite harmless." She assured Merida, biting her lip trying to hold back laughter. Olaf was the best ice breaker, so to speak, there was and someone like Merida couldn’t possibly resist his snowy charms. Merida looked at Anna, and then down at the beaming snowman before she shrugged and knelt down to hug him, it wasn’t like she cared much for the cold, after all, it was just like holding Elsa's hands- No! No Elsa, not yet! Olaf squealed in joy when Merida hugged him, and almost immediately started to talk, 

"So you're the one that Elsa's always talking about," Merida pulled back quickly, did everyone in this castle knew about her and Elsa? Even things that weren’t even human? So much for no Elsa yet. Anna rushed over, looking completely scandalized, causing Merida to feel even worse than before, 

"Olaf!" She cried, taking through her teeth to keep quiet as if Merida wasn’t sitting less than a foot away, "What did I tell you? No talking about you-know-who!" She reprimanded Olaf as she tried to untangle one of his arms from Merida's hair. She returned Olaf's arm and he stuck it in place flexing his stick fingers happily, 

"Elsa made me." He told Merida proudly. Anna huffed an exasperated sigh and then pulled Merida up and away, leading her to the door and giving Olaf a death glare, to which he responded with a wide grin and a happy wave. Incorrigible, there was no other word for the little snow beastie as Merida so aptly put it. Too bad Anna couldn’t threat Olaf with fire anymore, not since Elsa supplied him with his own flurry cloud. 

Anna dragged Merida all over the castle, talking non-stop and waving her arms around as she showed Merida every part of the castle and town. Merida let herself be dragged along, trying her best to look enthusiastic and follow Anna's explanations but Olaf's words kept playing in her mind over and over again, Elsa was talking about her? Always? Even if Olaf wasn’t the most creditable creature around it still meant that Elsa was at least thinking about her, right? What sort of thing will Elsa be saying about her? Was it good things or bad? And why would she talk to Olaf of all things? The longer she pondered about it all the more confused she became and Merida could feel a headache creeping between her eyes. 

They were making their way back to the castle for the formal dinner and suddenly Merida panicked, she wasn’t ready to meet Elsa, not yet! Not when she hadn’t figured out what she wanted to say! She looked around her trying to think of an escape, her mind going completely blank with panic. Maybe she should fake an injury! But she didn’t have her trusty bow with her, it was back in her room at the castle of Dunbroch, because her mother claimed she couldn’t show up armed for a party, it sent the wrong message, the queen had said, like they were planning to invade. Invasion! Merida looked around her, could she possibly organize a small invasion between here and the dining hall? Probably not, at least not by herself and without a proper weapon. Damn! 

"Merida," Merida looked around to see the concerned face of Anna, peering at her, "Are you alright? You look a little flush, are you feeling well?" 

"Yes!" Merida cried, of course! Faking illness, it was the oldest trick in the book, and one she used so many times before! An invasion? Who'd think of an invasion before faking a perfectly good tummy ache? "I mean no! I mean…" She looked at Anna again and sagged a little, trying to make herself seem as unwell as possible without going to dramatically about it, "It's been a long day, days! I think I need to kip early. My stomach…" She finished lamely and rubbed her stomach, hoping that Anna was either shrewd enough to realize the real reason or dumb enough to believe her- either way, she hoped Anna would understand and not make her go to dinner. 

"Come on, I'll show you to your room." Anna said, trying to hide a smile. She could see the whole process of thinking on Merida's face, and it was quite hilarious but she couldn’t blame her for not wanting to show up for dinner. If there was something Elsa excelled in it was controlling her emotions when other people were about and poor Merida would just about break down into pieces if Elsa gave her one of her icy looks, especially right now. Somehow she had to keep Merida away from Elsa until the two could be alone. Well, maybe not completely alone, because who knew how bad that could turn. Anna figured she'd just have to shadow Merida for the next couple of days, until the perfect moment arose. She'd have to enlist Olaf for help without actually telling him what they were doing. The whole thing was shaping up to be quite a project… Merida gave her friend a relieved smile as she followed Anna to the room that was to be hers during her stay. She could practically feel her parents' disapproval of this cowardly approach but she didn’t care- they weren’t here, she was! 

Once the door closed behind Anna's back, she quickly changed her travel dress into a nightgown, just to feel more comfortable and washed her face in the basin that stood by the window. Looking outside she could see that the sky was already dark, the vast canopy of dark blue spangled with stars which in turn reminded her of Elsa's ice magic. Turning away from the window Merida tossed herself on the big bed. Everything here reminded her of Elsa- even the stars! 

Elsa was here too, even if she didn’t get to see her yet, she was here, so very close. She'll have to see her at some point- as much fun as Anna was, Arendelle wasn’t that big, and technically she was an official delegate and there were only so many dinners she could skip before people became suspicious. Not to mention the ball itself, that she had absolutely no way of escaping. The whole point of coming here was to see Elsa, she knew that of course, but now that she was here, it was a lot harder to do what she came here for.   
Turning around Merida buried her face in the pillow and screamed in frustration.


	7. Chapter Seven- REPOST

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Mmm, this is where it gets a little mature- be warned.

 

** Chapter Seven **

It was almost three hours since she retired to her room and still Merida couldn’t find peace. She was tossing and turning in her bed, her body was tired from the long day but her mind was restless. She thought about going to look for Angus, but since she didn’t know where the stables were kept that meant she had to go to find Anna so she could show her, and since she didn’t know where Anna's room was that meant… Wondering around like a lost puppy, and she wasn’t quite there yet! A princess should never be seen around a strange castle knocking on doors and looking for stables! Merida rolled her eyes as her mother's voice came in her head.

A soft knock was heard on the door and Merida jumped from her bed, was it Anna, coming to tell her how horrible dinner was? Or maybe it was Olaf, wanting to tell her more stories about Elsa? Either way, it meant someone she could talk to instead of driving herself mad! She opened the door widely, smiling in invitation when she saw who was standing on the other side and the smile died on her lips,

"What do you want?" She blurted before she could control her tongue. Elsa lifted her head sharply, suddenly facing an irate Merida. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, not entirely sure how she got here. One minute she was sitting in the most boring dinner she'd had to endure in quite a while, before she excused herself for the night but instead of going to her room she somehow found herself in front of the last door in the castle she wanted or intended to be.

"I'm… I'm sorry, I shouldn’t have come, I'm sorry…" She mumbled before turning her heel and fleeing down the corridor. Big, big mistake coming here! Seeing Merida in the flash was a lot harder than she ever imagined and Elsa had to fight hard just to keep standing and not be crushed down by the onslaught of conflicting feelings. Merida wanted to pull her hair out- she didn’t mean to sound so harsh, she was just surprised, but now she was _angry_! Enough was bloody well enough!

"Hey!" She yelled, and Queen Elsa stopped on her tracks, her back still turned to Merida, "Don’t you think you owe me an explanation?" The Queen closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She slowly turned to see Merida standing in the corridor, hands on her hips wearing a white nightshirt and socks, her hair flying wild around her. She clasped her gloved hands tightly together and took a deep breath,

"You're right," The Queen mused to herself, before she started making her way slowly back, there was no point in delaying the inevitable, she was here and Merida was here and it was time to sort things out once and for all. She kept her eyes firmly on the floor until she could see the edge of Merida's long nightshirt before she stopped. "I'm scared." She confessed lowly,

"Of me?" Elsa's head shot up to see Merida looking at her in confusion. The corners of her mouth turned slightly up, if only things were simpler- if only she could fully let go and embrace her true feelings instead of hiding behind her duties and fears.

"It's just so hard, I can't control the feelings inside of me," She told Merida, who took a subconscious step towards her, "And I _have_ to stay in control," The Queen stated firmly, her hands clenching into fists, "Otherwise I hurt people." Merida reached over and put her hands on Elsa's arms, and felt the other girl stiffen under her touch, but did her best to ignore the pang of pain and disappointment shooting through her heart at Elsa's reaction. Now she knew what was wrong, and as her mother always said- knowing what the problem was, was halfway towards finding a solution. And if Elsa was afraid of her own feelings there was no one better than Merida to draw her out of her shell and show her how wonderful things could be if only she'd stop thinking so hard for a while.

"You won't hurt me." She said softly and Elsa looked up to see the sweet smile on Merida's face, and every molecule in her body wanted to believe her so badly,

"How do you know?" She whispered, desperate for some sort of assurance that things could turn for the better. Merida took a deep breath and smiled again,

"Because you can't hurt me anymore than you already have." Elsa closed her eyes against the sudden sting of tears. She could feel Merida's hand coming to rest on her cheek and opened her eyes gingerly. Merida was still smiling as she leaned forward and gently kissed her. Elsa felt like crying all over again but this time it was because she was so relieved and glad Merida was no longer upset with her. She wrapped her arms around Merida's waist, and strove to deepen the kiss, pushing Merida backwards and pressing her against the wall. They broke apart grinning at each other when Elsa suddenly remembered where they were standing, pressing her forehead to Merida's she whispered,

"Can we maybe not do this in the middle of the corridor?" Merida's laughter rang through the hall and she nodded, taking Elsa's hand and leading her into the room, shutting the door, and the world, behind her.

"You don’t have to be afraid anymore," Merida said as she took Elsa's hands in hers. She was so relieved to finally learn what was wrong, because this she knew how to fix. A princess should never fear her own feelings, and neither should a queen. "Here, let me take these off." She whispered softly and gently pulled the gloves from Elsa's hands. Elsa looked mesmerized at her hands, no one has ever tried to take her gloves off before- well, at least not deliberately, but Merida was determined to show Elsa there was nothing to be afraid of and Elsa wanted to let her do that, so very much. Merida wrapped her fingers around Elsa's, trying to ignore the cold- Elsa's fingers were always cold, but she supposed it was part of her magic, so she did her best to ignore the chill. Elsa looked up to see Merida smiling at her and her face split into a relieved smile in return,

"You're so beautiful when you smile," Merida whispered and Elsa felt the blush creeping up to her cheeks, it was amazing how Merida could undo her so easily, just one small gesture and she was ready to do anything for the redheaded girl. Merida took a step backwards, letting go of Elsa's hands and quickly pulled her nightshirt over her head. Merida's eyes shone in determination, she was not going to let this opportunity slip her by, and nothing- save from Elsa physically bolting from the room was going to make her back down. Elsa swallowed hard at the sight of her lover standing in front of her, completely naked, save for a pair of wooly socks. Her first instinct was to close her eyes, she did not have much experience with naked people but this wasn’t just a random person taking their clothes off in front of her and so she fought her instinct and looked at Merida.

Elsa's breath caught in her throat, Merida was so beautiful, her skin was almost as pale as Elsa's but somehow, it was a warm shade of ivory, and it practically shone in the candle light. Her body was not as thin as Elsa's but it curved beautifully causing Merida to look even more feminine than a dress and her hair could make her. Elsa could feel the heat building in her and had the almost overwhelming desire to just trace every curve of Merida's body with her tongue, just to feel if her skin was as warm as it looked. She took a step closer until she could feel the heat radiating from Merida. Elsa knew full well this opportunity will not come back and she was determined to make the most of it- it was too late for second guessing and doubts, and right now none of those existed anyway. She wrapped her arms around Merida's naked waist, bringing them flush together and let her hands roam freely on the soft and warm skin. Merida chuckled softly as she peppered Elsa's neck and cheeks with soft kisses, while her hands reached to the back of Elsa's dress, her fingers beginning to undo the laces that held it closed. After a while Elsa turned her head to try and see what was going on, but Merida's wild hair was filling her view and making it impossible to see around it. She could hear Merida muttering to herself in frustration,

"Is everything alright?" She asked, her voice laced with amusement, "Do you need help?" Merida pulled back to give Elsa a pouty look, so what if this was the very first time she ever did something like that, that was no excuse to be this clumsy, and she dearly hoped Elsa will find it endearing rather than a turn off.

"You know, this is a lot easier to do on yourself than on someone else." She complained and Elsa couldn’t help but laugh. She gently untangled Merida's fingers from her dress and took over. Merida, acknowledging her defeat against the fabric, retreated to the bed to just watch as her handsome lover unrobed. Elsa suddenly found herself standing in the middle of the room by herself, expected to take her clothes off and she was just about ready to succumb to her own insecurities when she looked over and caught the intensity of Merida's gaze and the hunger in her eyes and Elsa could feel every part of her warming up and she bit her lip as she pulled the last cord that held her dress free and let the soft fabric slide to the floor. When the last piece of cloth was finally taken off, Merida held her hand for Elsa to join her on the bed. The blonde walked slowly over, her hips swaying without her even noticing and Merida had to swallow hard, because damn this was one of the most enticing things she's ever witnessed. Elsa's body was pure perfection in her eyes and she knew she simply must touch it and soon or else…

When Elsa reached the bed, Merida pulled her down, none too gently to lie next to her. She leaned over Elsa, her hand running softly on the girl's thigh, trying to get Elsa to relax. Elsa was holding herself quite stiffly, not as comfortable in her skin as Merida was. It was the first time she ever took her clothes off in front of someone else willingly, the first time she was this physically close to anyone and while her whole being wanted this more than anything her body was a little slower to follow with the program. Her hands tangled in the red locks as she brought Merida down for a hard kiss, because the intensity in Merida's gaze was almost frightening, and a part of Elsa kept wondering what it was that Merida saw in her, and she wanted to shut that voice up, drown it with the heat and passion she was slowly succumbing to.

When they surfaced for air, the two smiled at each other, before Merida lowered her head again and started placing soft, open mouthed kisses down Elsa's neck and collarbone, slowly exploring the marble white skin with her tongue. Elsa closed her eyes, her body tingling with the new sensations, she could feel heat gathering inside her, and that was a strange sensation for one so used to the cold, her head was starting to fog with the new sensations and she welcomed the feeling, as it was drove away the rational, annoying thoughts. Her hands left Merida's hair, clenching and unclenching and she gasped in pleasure when Merida's tongue wrapped around her peaked nipple. Her body was responding to Merida's ministrations so willingly and Merida was in complete awe of Elsa's beauty and suppleness. She was working on pure instinct here, but the way Elsa's body was responding to her was very encouraging and Merida's bold nature was pushing her to do things she never dreamed of before.

A shower of snowflakes shot from between Elsa's fingers, and Merida looked up in amazement- she really couldn’t get enough of Elsa's magic. Elsa's eyes snapped open at the lost of that wonderful tongue on her skin and saw Merida's eyes following the swirling pattern of snowflakes. Elsa gasped and quickly covered her face in embarrassment, causing all the snow to fall right on Merida's naked back. Merida jumped up, her body seized with a violent shudder as the cold flakes melted against her heated skin.

"I'm so sorry!" Elsa scrambled to sit up, and Merida rose to her knees, her curls bouncing joyfully as she laughed. Elsa looked beyond mortified at her loss of control, but Merida didn’t give her time to feel too self-conscious. This was the first time she ever felt like this and she was not about to let Elsa ruin it just because she lost control- in fact, this made Merida feel even better. Undoing Elsa felt more satisfying than she ever dared to dream.

"Don’t be, just let go, it's alright." She whispered and Elsa bit her lip before she slowly lowered her hands from her face and tried to smile. Merida gave an encouraging grin and Elsa gingerly placed her hands on Merida's waist. The Scottish princess placed one of her hands on Elsa's and guided it upwards to cup her breast, "You can touch me, you know, I won't break." She promised the startled queen and Elsa took a deep breath before a wicked smile took over her face and she quickly flipped the two of them over, trapping Merida under her. Merida let out a small surprised cry, but the smile soon returned to her face, when Elsa's hand reached between her legs. Closing her eyes and tossing her head back Merida let out a deep moan- she's never felt like this before, and right now all she wanted was to feel like this forever. The sensation of Elsa's cold hands on her hot skin was like nothing she felt before and she didn’t want the sensation to be over, it was intoxicating. Elsa was thoroughly enjoying herself, loving the way Merida's hair seemed to be everywhere, the soft, silky curls brushing against her skin were doing as much to excite her as Merida's hands. Her eyes followed every expression on Merida's face, trying to gauge her reactions to make sure Merida was enjoying herself. Elsa had to admit she was actually surprising herself here, she was never this bold and spontaneous, but right now she loved every second of it. Her fingers were delving into Merida's body over and over again, the hot tissues wrapping tightly around her perpetually cold fingers causing Merida to jump slightly every so often.

Elsa looked mesmerized at Merida's face as she tossed her head back and cried out in passion- it was the most beautiful thing she's ever seen, and it was all thanks to her. Elsa couldn’t help but smile. Merida slowly came down from her high, breathing hard and smiling wide and she reached up for Elsa, who gladly went in between her arms. Elsa pulled the blanket around them and closed her eyes happily.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: You have no idea how hard it is to try and write a sex scene with Disney's characters! I'm feeling like I'm ruining their innocence. But they are of age, and this is consensual Goddammit!


	8. Chapter Eight- REPOST

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Rating continues to be M-ish
> 
> I'm so so sorry this took so long to post, I went home for the weekend and came back with the flu (sarcastic YAY), and this is the first day I can bear to look at the computer without being overcome with nausea. Hope you enjoy :-)

** Chapter Eight **

Anna was skipping joyfully through the halls, it had begun snowing in the night and now the whole of Arendelle was buried under it, shining white like a big frosted cake, making all the citizens go about playing and tossing snowballs at each other- the Arendellians did love winter, just not in the middle of summer. She made her way to Merida's room, surely the other princess would love nothing more than to come and play with her in the snow- she sure made a valiant effort to get out of dinner the night before but a good night sleep would make her want to have fun. Without bothering to knock on the door Anna burst into the room,

"Merida, do you want to build a snowman?" She cried happily before her eyes landed on the bed, where a pair of very flushed and embarrassed girls was scrambling to pull covers up to hide their nakedness. Anna yelled, quickly covering her eyes with her hands- this was definitely _not_ what she expected to find! "It's snowing outside." She finished lamely.

Merida looked at her lover, her whole face was burning red and she bit her lip to stop the giggles. Sure, having Anna bursting on them first thing in the morning to discover Elsa in her bed was mortifying, but the look on Elsa's face was just priceless. She managed to turn the inappropriate giggling fit into an embarrassed coughing and turned to Anna, who was still standing in the middle of the room with her hands over her eyes.

"Give me a wee minute to get dressed?" She requested and Anna nodded enthusiastically, though she made no move towards the door. Elsa rolled her eyes, her own shame melting away at the sight of her sister's appalling lack of manners,

"Anna, get out!" She barked and poor Anna jumped up, suddenly remembering what it was she wasn’t supposed to see,

"Right, sorry," She cried, turning around and making her way to the door, her eyes still covered until she painfully walked right into it with a loud bang. Merida cringed in sympathy but Elsa just shook her head. Anna felt blindly for the door handle and quickly opened the door, but before she stepped out she turned her head towards the bed again, her eyes still squeezed shut, "I'm really glad you two made up!" She said before slamming the door behind her. Elsa threw herself back on the bed with an annoyed huff.

"Order of the day," She said, looking up at Merida, "Locks!" With that Merida lost the battle with the giggles and burst out laughing. Elsa did her best to fight her own laughter but soon lost. The way every part of Merida seemed to be laughing along with her, and her wild hair bouncing around her was just too infectious to resist. When the two girls managed to get control over themselves they turned to each other for a sweet morning kiss. "I should probably get going," Elsa said with a small pout, "Before anyone else notices." Merida didn’t bother with an answer, and simply let her hand wander down her lover's body invitingly, Elsa brought their mouths together for a heated kiss and they both forgot all about the world outside until Anna's voice filtered through the door at what sounded like a small struggle to prevent Olaf from getting into the room. Merida pulled back with an apologetic look,

"I think _I_ should be going." She said and Elsa nodded in registration, apparently they were not to have any privacy this morning. "Will I see you later?" Merida asked as she started rummaging through her chest in search of a dress. Elsa pulled herself up as well, and started picking her dress off the floor, where it was left where it fell the night before. It still amazed her just how comfortable Merida was being naked around her, like they've been doing it for years. Elsa tried her best not to let her natural shyness get the better of her and ruin their moments together but she knew it will be a while still before she could just jump out of the bed bare skinned and not reach for a sheet to drape around her frame first.

"Of course." She smiled, because she definitely intended to find the gorgeous redhead later and show her some of her own favorite places in the castle, hopefully without her little sister tagging along. Merida walked over to her lover and pulled her into a goodbye kiss. Pulling back with effort she gave Elsa one last smile and slipped out the door.

Almost an hour later Merida stood back to admire her handiwork. It wasn’t a bad effort for a first snowman she thought- yes, it was slightly askew, and sure, the proportions were somewhat off, and it wasn’t nearly as polished smooth as Olaf but come on, she was not Elsa! Looking around she saw Anna and Kristoff arguing about the design of their snowman, with Olaf interjecting every now and again with completely useless advices. A pair of hands slid their way around her waist,

"This isn’t half bad." Elsa said as she pressed herself to Merida's back. Merida smiled and leaned into her girlfriend's embrace, it's been less than twenty four hours but already she was addicted to Elsa's touch,

"You're just saying that to get a kiss." She accused flirtingly and Elsa chuckled,

"Would that be so bad?" She inquired playfully, and Merida turned her head towards her, her eyes shining and her lips stretched in a wide smile,

"Not at all." She whispered and sealed their lips together. Their kiss was interrupted by a very rude snowball hitting them square in the face. The two girls broke apart, spluttering, to look at a giggling Anna who immediately pointed at Kristoff when she saw her sister's glare. Elsa smiled wickedly and lifted her hand, creating a perfectly round snowball in her palm before she threw it her sister, hitting her square in the nose. Anna shrieked and bent over the gather another snowball, and Merida quickly pulled Elsa behind her snowman for protection. Soon a merry snowball fight began; Anna and Kristoff teamed up behind their own snowman as the two teams' hurled snowballs at each other. Olaf was running from one group to the other, throwing snowballs at them all, and sometimes even his own head.

The fight ended when Anna, who somehow managed to get Olaf on her side, used him to create a distraction that allowed her to crawl up to Merida and Elsa unnoticed. With a loud triumphant cry she launched herself on the girls, knocking them both on their backs. Rising to her knees she raised her arms high,

"I win!" She yelled happily to the world and then grinned down at her sister and her friend. Merida looked slightly put out with the outcome of the snowball fight but Elsa was smiling wide- this had been without a doubt the most fun she's had in a very long time. Well, outdoors fun, anyway. "Do you know what we need right now?" Anna asked the two girls still lying on their backs under her,

"Some bruise salve?" Merida groaned as she sat up, the snow under her wasn’t fluffy and soft at all once you landed hard on it, plus, she cleared pretty much all the area around her in the effort of making snowballs.

"Hot chocolate!" Elsa declared happily, and Anna's eyes shone as she nodded wildly in agreement. The two sisters scrambled to their feet and pulling each other they ran towards the castle, with a happily squealing Olaf at their wake. Kristoff came to stand next to Merida, the two of them sharing a shrug and a smile before he helped her to her feet and they followed the girls inside.

After some much needed hot chocolate and clothes change, Elsa was called away to do her queenly duties and Kristoff decided it was high time he returned to work and offered to take Merida along with him, to show her where the famous Arendelle ice was coming from. Merida accepted the offer gladly, because loitering around the castle waiting for Elsa to finally have time for her wasn’t as appealing as riding a sled and going up the mountains. The two walked together to the stables to retrieve Sven but when they reached there the saw the reindeer wasn’t alone. Sven was far too busy rubbing his snout with Angus, the two huge beasts completely oblivious to their surroundings.

"Hmm, I don’t think you're going anywhere anytime soon." Merida commented with a smile when she saw her own horse playing the animal version of a rub down with Kristoff's reindeer. Kristoff, on the other hand, looked quite crestfallen,

"Oh, but I was hoping to get to the eastern lake today," He lamented softly, "The ice there is so clear you can see almost all the way down to the bottom of the lake."

"You really like ice, don’t you?" Merida asked in amusement, and Kristoff cast her a side-long look and shrugged,

"Ice is my life." He stated simply and Merida smiled wider. The two turned to look at their beasts again, the two quite absorbed in each other and not caring that their owners were mere feet away. "I really don’t understand Sven sometimes," Kristoff complained as he crossed his arms over his chest, "First he befriends a snowman and now this… Is it because he never met other reindeers?"

"Probably." Merida shrugged and then grabbed Kristoff arm, "Come on, let's go inside and get warm." She said, because as fun as it was to watch Angus and Sven have their little whatever it was a horse and reindeer were having she felt a little like a voyeur. The two turned to get back into the castle where they met Anna, who managed to escape the meeting she was supposed to attend. She thought the whole ordeal between Sven and Angus hilarious and then asked the groom to saddle two horses for her and Merida so they could go for a ride. Kristoff opted to stay behind, knowing that if Sven found out he rode a horse instead of taking him he'd never hear the end of it. Besides, with some luck he'd manage to pry Sven away from Angus long enough for them to actually achieve some work that day.

Anna and Merida rode the rocky track that led away from Arendelle towards the mountains and Merida was in complete awe of the landscape- back home they never got this much snow, it was too close to the water and the winds were too strong for any of it to stick but the Arendelle fjord was completely covered with it. Her horse was almost buried to his knees in it. The forests in this part of world were quite different than the ones back home- the trees here were coniferous, all pointy and triangular, with the snow covering them and making them look like the caps of the dwarves and gnomes that composed the folklore of the area as Anna had told her. Merida absolutely loved the snow- not only because it reminded her of Elsa and her powers but also because it was pure fun and she never actually had a chance to experience it before in such a way.

They ended up their day sitting on the roof of the castle, looking at the sky which was dancing with colors. She's heard so much about the Northern lights from Anna but it was still beyond amazing to witness it firsthand. Anna had said the sky was awake and Merida couldn’t agree more, it was just so beautiful, that she even managed to forget how cold it was outside. Eventually the two came down from the roof, shivering and hurried to the nearest fireplace to defrost.

After dinner Elsa promptly grabbed Merida's hand and took her away. It's been quite a long day in which she saw practically nothing of her girlfriend and she's had quite enough! It was really unfair that Anna got to spend so much time with Merida under the pretence that she needed to be a good host and shirked away from her responsibilities while she was stuck trying to organize what was essentially Anna's dance!

Pushing Merida against the closed door of her room Elsa wasted no time kissing her beautiful lover and letting her hands wonder over Merida's body. The young Scottish princess was thoroughly amused by Elsa's eagerness, but was quick to reciprocate. Anna had been funny and fun and great to hang out with but Elsa was… Elsa was pure bliss and now that she was touching her Merida couldn’t fathom how she survived the day without her. Clothes were divested with at top speed, both girls laughing as they nearly tripped over on their way to the bed.

Elsa couldn’t believe she could ever feel this way, Merida was on top of her, riding her with her wild hair framing her like a giant orange halo, she was so gorgeous, so amazingly beautiful that Elsa couldn’t stop looking. Merida's skin was glistening with sweat and her head was tilted back. Suddenly she opened her eyes and looked down at Elsa, and Elsa's breath stole as their eyes locked. Merida leaned forward, one hand cupping Elsa's face as she leaned for a kiss. Elsa closed her eyes, letting herself be lost in the kiss. All too soon Merida's mouth left her own, but before Elsa could complain she felt Merida's mouth on her skin again and her back arched, she spread her hands wide, there was no way she could keep in control, especially when Merida was doing _that_ with her fingers! With a loud, deep moan Elsa let it all go.

When she opened her eyes, her chest still heaving, she looked about her to find that her room was covered in snow. Big, fluffy piles of it, all around her bed, making it look like a marooned island in the midst of the snow. Even the bed posts turned into pillars of ice. Turning her head she saw Merida was cuddled under the blankets, with only tufts of her red hair poking out.

"Oh no, not again…" Elsa bemoaned softly. Is this what was going to happen every time she made love to Merida? Because she was pretty sure the Scottish lass will soon tire of having to hide under the blankets because she couldn’t control her powers properly. Merida's head poked from under the blanket and she smiled, slinking over to cover Elsa and entwine their limbs together,

"Do you have any idea how gorgeous you look when you're not in complete control?" She asked softly, her eyes shining with mirth and her lips smiling,

"You're shivering." Elsa observed, feeling very guilty that Merida was cold, because even the fireplace was blocked with snow.

"Then reverse it," Merida said simply, "Anna said that you can undo the snow with love." It wasn’t exactly a question, in fact it was almost a challenge, and Elsa looked at Merida who was always so confident and realized she was holding her breath for Elsa's answer- in which form it may come. Elsa smiled, pulling Merida to her for a kiss while she lifted her other hand to thaw the snow. When they broke apart Merida cast a brief glance around to see that the room once again resembled an indoor configuration and kissed Elsa again,

"I love you too." She whispered, and they both smiled at each other.

 


	9. Chapter Nine- REPOST

** Chapter Nine **

Elsa opened her eyes and realized she was smiling. It was the first time in a very long time that she could remember herself doing that. Turning around she saw Merida fast asleep by her side, her red mane fanned on the pillows and obscuring Elsa's view of her face. Elsa carefully moved the curls around until she uncovered some skin and gently kissed Merida's cheek. Merida grumbled a bit, still fast asleep and borrowed her face deeper into the linen. Elsa waited for a bit but when it became clear that Merida was in no hurry to wake up she sighed in disappointment and rose from the bed.

Walking around the halls of her castle Elsa found that she was fighting the urge to skip, and that every now and again a small smile she couldn’t quite contain threatened to surface on her face. This sort of behavior was usually Anna's thing, but today Elsa didn’t care if she looked goofy or silly because Merida loved her and absolutely nothing was going to spoil her good mood. She hasn’t felt this good since the first time she went up to the north mountain and let her power run free, but this was way better since this time there was nothing that was going to spoil her mood- no frozen Arendelle, and no soldiers coming to arrest her.

When Merida finally woke up it was to an empty bed. She pouted slightly, her hopes of a little morning kiss dashed. She turned her face against the pillow and something cold and sharp hit her face. Rubbing her nose she lifted her head to find that Elsa had left her a beautiful snow rose on the pillow. Merida's smile widened as she took the rose, turning it from side to side to see that it was perfect in every detail, the ice petals so sheer and thin she was afraid to breath lest they melted with the heat of her breath. Stretching languidly she rolled off the bed, its emptiness much less appealing than the world outside.

Merida peeked through the door, looking to both sides before she slipped out of the room. It was one thing having Elsa stay in her room- she was the queen after all, and this was her castle so no one could tell her where to go, but being caught sneaking out of the royal chambers early in the morning had the potential of a diplomatic scandal, especially since tonight was going to be an official ball, and the fact that she was technically one of the guests.

"Good morning." Anna's voice came from directly behind her and Merida nearly jumped out of her skin. Turning around she was greeted by a her smiling friend, who didn’t seem in the least bit worried about diplomatic decorum or at all surprised to find Merida in her sister's room. Merida smiled faintly, feeling her cheeks flaming up, but before she could feel too self-conscious about her predicament Anna gabbed her hand, "Come on, let's go to the kitchen and see where they're hiding the deserts!" She cried joyfully as she started pulling Merida after her,

"You're worse than the triplets!" Merida laughed jovially as she started running after Anna. It was a real shame Anna never got to meet the triplets- though, when she stopped thinking about it, Merida knew it was for the best, who knew what mayhem the combined forces of Anna and the triplets could unleash.

Several hours later Elsa went on search of her wayward girlfriend, they had a few precious hours before the ball in which she didn’t have to be the Queen and Merida wasn’t the official representative of the Highlands and she intended to spend them as best she could. She found Merida standing in Angus' loose-box, brushing the huge black horse and singing softly to him. Elsa took a moment to simply look at her until Merida noticed her and beckoned her into the loose-box with a smile. The two ended up pressed against the wall, kissing and groping each other while Angus munched on his hay completely uninterested, his large body obscuring them from any wondering eyes.

When Anna came to look for her sister to start getting ready for the ball she wasn’t surprised to find Merida with her, the two sitting close together on one of the sofas in the sitting room, conversing in whispers and giggling occasionally. That didn’t exactly explain why they both had straw in their hair but Anna decided to let it slip- after all, she was pretty sure she did not want to hear the answer. Elsa and Merida were in that stage where they couldn’t get their hands off each other and while Anna was beyond happy for the two of them, catching them naked once was quite enough for her. Elsa got up reluctantly and let Anna drag her out of the room. After a while Merida got up as well and went to her own room to get ready.

Merida brushed her hands on the front of her gown, it was stiff and uncomfortable and she hated it, but it was formal and it was a formal ball so she had little choice in the matter, at least with her mother not present there was no-one who could force her to hide her hair. She walked into the ballroom with her head held high as the herald announced her arrival; she hated this sort of formality- especially after the way she's spent the last couple of days. Walking towards the throne Merida bit the inside of her cheek to stop from smiling, Elsa stood there, looking all majestic and prim and bored out of her mind. She'd smile serenely at each nobleman and noblewoman presented to her and Merida would trade all the whisky in her father's cellar to get a direct link to Elsa's thoughts right now and see what scanting abuses she came up with for each one of them.

Elsa looked up as the delegation of the Highlands was presented, Merida was walking towards her, her face seemingly impassive but her eyes were sparkling with mirth. Elsa took a deep breath and tried to keep her serene mask on, even though Merida was biting her lip to keep from laughing. This whole scene was absurd, the way they had to act like they didn't know each other. In a way it was easier for Elsa to put on her Queenly mask, as she did so often since her coronation, but Merida wasn’t used to being anything but herself and this whole charade was making her feel like a fool. She stiffly curtsied before Elsa, the two locking eyes before Merida gave an impish smile and ran her tongue seductively over her upper lip and Elsa quickly turned her head, her cheeks pinking fast and her jaw tight. Oh, the cheek of that girl! Merida stepped away from the queen with a very satisfied smile on her face.

Elsa breathed a sigh of relief when the introductions formality was finally over and she gave the sign for the festivities to begin. Music filled the ballroom and couples were flocking to the dance floor and she could finally retreat to her throne and not be the center of everyone's attention anymore. She looked around her to see if she could locate Merida- which should have been easy considering her hair was like a beacon but still proved to be a task. She spotted Anna, already on the dance floor, trying to waltz with Kristoff, only to find out both of them were terrible at it before they decided to engage in a more free style sort of dancing that quickly cleared quite a wide circle around them. Elsa didn’t even bother with an eye-roll.

"Will you dance with me?" Elsa turned her head to see Merida standing at the edge of the platform on which her throne sat, with an inviting smile and a reached hand. Elsa got up from the throne and edged her way to the smiling princess,

"I don’t dance." She told her girlfriend and Merida pouted sweetly at her,

"Not even with me?" Elsa sighed, looking around her uncomfortably. Merida was still smiling at her, but her eyes were challenging and eventually Elsa ran her hand through her hair and placed it in Merida's. It was quite amazing the sort of thing Merida could get her to do with that challenging gaze. Merida's smile widened in triumph as she led the queen onto the edge of the dance floor, not caring one bit who saw them and what they were thinking. Elsa stood rather stiffly, looking almost scared and Merida gently took her hands and placed them on her own hips, before she started guiding Elsa around the room. After a while it became quite clear that Elsa wasn’t lying when she said she didn’t dance and poor Merida valiantly tried to keep her smile on as her girlfriend stepped on her foot yet again. Eventually it was Elsa who decided to call the torture to an end, and pulled Merida after her, crossing the ballroom with determination.

The crisp air of the courtyard was like a kiss of life to Elsa after the stuffy ballroom, and she drank the cool air into her lungs with relish. She turned to Merida with a sly smile and held out her hand, turning the whole courtyard into an ice rink with a flick of her wrist. Merida's gasp of astonishment only made Elsa feel better. It was way better to get to impress Merida than anyone else, and as long as Merida didn’t seem to be bored with her magic Elsa was never going to stop trying to impress her. She wrapped her arms around Merida, who was standing as still as possible so that she wouldn’t slip,

"Would you skate with me?" Merida was still looking at the sparkling floor around her, and she replied absentmindedly,

"Oh, I don’t skate."

"Not even with me?" Elsa echoed the previous sentiment and Merida finally looked at her. With another flick of her hand Elsa turned Merida's shoes into skating boots, causing the redhead to stumble in surprise and cling to Elsa. Elsa laughed as she gently guided Merida around the courtyard; the redhead clinging so tightly to her it was almost painful, but rather intimate at the same time. Olaf joined them, having enough of the ballroom too, pirouetting wildly as he skated around the girls. They ended up by the fountain and Merida was extremely happy to have something solid and unmoving to latch onto. She could feel her muscles starting to seize up in the effort of holding herself up and knew that if she kept this up for long she'd be stiff as a board come morning. She turned with some effort, her feet trying to go in different directions without her consent and she grasped the fountain's edge for dear life. Elsa was thoroughly amused as she gracefully walked over and pressed herself against Merida. Merida took her hands off the fountain slowly, immediately wrapping them around Elsa- skating, as it turned out, was very much _not_ her thing!

The two girls were kissing softly while Olaf whooshed past them, being as graceful as a stubby legged snowman could possibly hope to be. Merida pulled back from the kiss, looking at Elsa with soft eyes, before she pressed her forehead to her girlfriend's,

"Marry me." Elsa jerked back in surprise, causing Merida to stumble and quickly reach for the fountain behind her. This was so unexpected that for a moment she wasn’t sure she even heard right,

"What?" Merida took a deep breath, getting her bearings again. Sure, it was less than an ideal setting and she probably should have thought better than to do it while barely able to stand on the ice, but she'd been thinking about this since the first night Elsa spent in her bed and now that it was finally out there she refused to back down,

"Marry me." She repeated, her whole face shinning with love and hope. Elsa, however, took a step backwards; breaking contact with Merida, and looking like a trapped animal,

"I…" She opened and closed her mouth several times, unable to form coherent words. Dealing with surprises was never her strong side, and while she learned how to do quite well on the professional level as queen it was quite a different matter when feelings were involved, especially high emotions as the ones she was experiencing right now. Merida reached with one hand towards her,

"It's alright, just breath," She said soothingly, but Elsa was already pulling away, her breathing shallow and Merida was suddenly fighting the urge to slap her. Luckily for Elsa she was still unwilling to let go of the fountain completely, "Don't shut off, please," Merida was almost pleading but it was too late, Elsa turned around and started running away, every footfall frosting the already frozen area around it. Merida groaned loudly, "Elsa! Don’t do this!" She cried after the running queen, "It's alright if you say no!" When Elsa disappeared around the corner Merida let out frustrated sigh and threw up her hands- a move that proved to be quite disastrous when a moment later she found herself flat on her back, staring at the sky,

"Och…" She let out miserably. That was such a bloody disaster! Olaf glided towards her, a dreamy look on his face,

"I just love weddings," The little snowman gushed, before he paused, "At least I think I do."

"Yes well, usually the other person has to say yes for a wedding to actually happen." Merida grumbled as she picked herself up, using the fountain as anchor herself. She heard the fabric of her dress finally giving up, and the seams of her sleeves breaking- well, there goes another dress. Looking around her she suddenly realized she was practically stranded, since the fountain was in the middle of the courtyard and with Elsa gone she would have to find other means to reach the other side, unless she wanted to crawl on her hands and knees, which she wouldn’t! She's had quite enough humiliation for one night. "Olaf, could you give me a hand?" Olaf nodded happily and so it was that Merida found herself bent almost double, her arms stretched before her, grasping Olaf's stick arms as he gently pulled her towards the stone steps. Merida was just grateful her mother- or anyone else for that matter wasn’t there to witness her utter disgrace.

She landed on the step with a huff, and quickly unlaced the skating boots, throwing them back as hard as she could, annoyed both at the ice and its maker. Turning around she stomped her way back into the hall in her socks. In a way it was good that she found what Elsa really felt before things got even more serious but that didn’t stop her annoyance at the queen for being such a coward and running from her feelings like that. She spotted Anna standing next to the desert table and made her way there. Anna looked up from her plate,

"Merida, you have to try this cake!" She pointed at her plate happily, before she took full stock of her friend's state, "What happened to your dress?"

"Skating." Merida spat the word as if it was personally offending her and Anna nodded in sympathy,

"Oh, I know, I can't do it either, unless I have Olaf on one side and Elsa on the other." Suddenly it occurred to her that if Merida had gone skating that was probably Elsa's doing but there was no sign of her, "Where's Elsa anyway?" Merida clenched her jaw,

"I don't know." She practically barked at the poor Anna before turning to the table. Anna bit her lip, unsure what to say next. Merida and Elsa had been inseparable pretty much from the moment the Scottish girl arrived, but now it seemed like Merida was ready to shoot her sister down with her bow and Anna wasn’t sure what she could say to stop her. This was just like back in the Highlands, where Merida and Elsa weren’t speaking and neither would tell Anna the reason. The poor Arendelle princess hoped it wouldn’t take as long this time to solve this because she really wasn’t up for another emotional rollercoaster so soon. Merida grabbed an apple from the table, and turned it around in her hands several times, while battling the feelings inside her- she was angry, disappointed, hurt, humiliated and probably a whole array of feeling she couldn’t even name, all of them at once. Anna tried her best to act normally while keeping an eye on her. She wasn’t really worried about what Merida might do, but she was quite concerned of what Elsa might do. Merida was just about to cut her loses and go back to her room, quite happy that she could leave first thing tomorrow without causing a diplomatic crisis, though she had no idea what she would do once she was back home, because now her feelings ran even deeper and it was going to be a whole lot harder to reconcile them when she felt a small tap on her shoulder and turned around to see Elsa standing in front of her, the queen looking pale but determined, her expression unreadable and Merida's breath stopped as she waited for the queen's answer,

"Yes." Merida's eyes popped open in shock, and it took her a couple of seconds to register what Elsa was actually saying,

"Wait, really?" A smile broke on Elsa's face, and she nodded, she took Merida's hands in hers, the apple falling to the floor rolling under the table forgotten,

"Yes, really." Merida's smile seemed to light the entire room as she pulled Elsa to her in a relieved hug, kissing her passionately. Anna was looking at the two of them; trying to make sense of what was happening- could it be possible that too much chocolate was making you hallucinate? Because she was pretty sure that less than a minute ago these two weren’t even talking to each other.

"What did I miss?" Anna looked down at Olaf, who suddenly materialized next to her and she shrugged helplessly,

"I'm not sure, Elsa said yes…" Olaf's entire frame was vibrating with happiness and Anna felt even more out of the loop,

"She said yes?" The little snowman cried, as he ambled his way to the kissing couple, "We have a wedding!" He yelled happily as he launched himself on Merida and Elsa in an enthusiastic hug, and suddenly all the pieces fell in place for Anna,

"Yes!" She cried, throwing her hands up in the air and showering everyone in her vicinity with the variety of chocolates she held, before she too launched herself on her sister and friend. "You're going to be my sister too!" She gushed happily at Merida who hugged her warmly in return. The four of them were suddenly startled by the Herald's booming voice washing over the ballroom,

"Queen Elsa has chosen her consort- Princess Merida, heiress to the throne of the Highlands' four clans, and first descendent of clan Dunbroch! All hail!" The entire ballroom erupted with loud cheers and Elsa felt her cheeks flaming as hid her face in Merida's voluminous hair. She should probably have accepted Merida's offer in the courtyard, alone- she certainly didn’t expect to make the official announcement so soon, but being around Merida made her forget about the world, time and time again. She could feel Merida's laugh shaking her entire frame. For the first time in forever Elsa was truly and wholly happy.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Two Disney movies, please don’t tell me you expected anything else…


	10. Chapter Ten- REPOST

** Chapter Ten **

Elsa looked around her at the packed small praying house. It was the first time she returned here since her coronation last year and just like then every seat in the place was taken. Then she'd been scared, she was holding herself so tight and trying so hard to keep anyone from finding out about her powers it was almost physically painful. She could still remember the way the priest held out the cushion with the scepter and ball and forbade her to wear her trusty gloves. Now the same priest was standing in front of her, but things couldn’t have been more different.

For one thing, everyone knew of her powers now- all of Arendelle was beyond proud of their Ice Queen and her fame had even reached foreign territories. Sometimes it seemed quite surreal to Elsa that her folk was so willing to accept her back and embrace her powers after she caused the unnatural winter that practically put them under siege for nearly a month, she had expected scorn, and possibly disowning not cheers and requests for ice rinks.

And most importantly, today she wasn’t facing the world alone. She turned her head to the person next to her and smiled. Merida was so beautiful; her white gown woven from the finest wool in the Highlands, with a golden thread embroidered through her cuffs, hem and neckline, even her plaited belt was made of gold, and descended down to the floor. After a long fight with her mother, one that the entire castle heard, the two Scottish women finally came to an agreement about Merida's hair and it fell on her back in a thick braid, and a simple and elegant gold circlet completed the picture of bridal beauty.

Every day that went by Elsa could practically feel her love for Merida growing. Merida represented everything Elsa always dreamed of being but never had the courage to be- she was strong, brave and such a free spirit, she would never let anyone (except her mother, but even that was not done quietly) control her life or tell her what to do. Elsa, who lived all her life secluded and in fear, was in complete awe of the fact Merida just went where she wanted and said whatever came to mind. Every day that she spent in Merida's company was defrosting a small part of her that was locked to the world and in fact even the people of Arendelle noticed that their queen was much more approachable these days, and smiled more readily. Of course Merida didn’t even have to work too hard to win their hearts, her natural charm and boisterousness was making them fall head over heels for her. Merida was so easy to fall in love with, and Elsa knew that better than anyone else, especially when they were alone in their room…Elsa turned her head and bit her lip trying to banish the thought from her head, because this was definitely not the time!

Merida gently took Elsa's hand, clasping them together and presenting them to the priest who wrapped a tartan cloth and bound the clasped hands. A loud sob was heard behind her and she turned her head to see her father bowling into a huge handkerchief, while her mother and three brothers gave an identical eye-roll at his behavior. Merida smiled wide- she was so glad they decided to postpone the actual wedding until spring so that her family could attend. She wouldn’t dream of getting married without them present. Though, to be honest, the people of Arendelle had already regarded her and Elsa as married mostly because they hardly seen the one without the other so the actual announcement caught quite a few of them in surprise. The Arendelle citizens absolutely loved Merida, she was the girl who managed to make their queen happy and that meant she could do no wrong in their eyes.

Turning her eyes back to her bride, Merida's smile grew, she felt like she was about to burst with happiness at any second that her head was practically swimming with it. Elsa was here, looking like a sparkly snowflake in her white dress, her hair was braided again and a small crown of snowflakes on top of her head. This one Elsa conjured after her original crown was thrown away. There she was, standing in front of her and vowing to stay by her side forever. Merida could hear the priest murmuring something in the background but she had eyes only for her bride. A loud cheer suddenly filled the small praying house and Merida was startled from her daydream. She looked around her to see the whole crowd on their feet and Elsa laughing at her bewildered expression. Pulling Elsa to her Merida turned her beaming smile to the crowd, who cheered even louder. Together the couple started leading the way out of the stuffy praying chambers and into the courtyard where most of Arendelle was waiting for their queen and her newly wedded consort.

Pretty soon he party was going in full swing, people were laughing, dancing, eating and talking, while Merida and Elsa wove their way through the throng, hands held fast together as they graciously received the people's heartfelt greetings. Queen Elinor watched her daughter beaming at the world with a soft smile on her face- she was happy for Merida, she truly was, but a little part of her motherly heart was bleeding with the pain of loss. Beside her King Fergus had absolutely no trouble unleashing that part of him- he was still sobbing loudly into his handkerchief.

"Fergus, would you please control yourself?" Elinor practically hissed at her husband, this was beginning to be embarrassing to be honest,

"I'm sorry dear, but this is so sad, my wee baby girl is leaving me…" The king sniffed miserably. Sure he was happy Merida found someone she loved and cared for, but that didn’t mean he ever thought this day would come! He was perfectly happy with Elinor pushing some more suitors their daughter's way, after all, he and Merida had quite a lot of fun joking about them, but now, now she actually was getting married and the king was having a hard time accepting this. "And now the triplets are going to leave us and we'll be left all alone!" The king was practically wailing at this point and Elinor bit her lip not to burst out laughing at her husband's dramatics.

"No one is marrying the triplets." She said flatly, and the king looked up from his handkerchief,

"Because they're such horrible pranksters?"

"Because they're eight years old!" The queen deadpanned. The king opened his mouth to say something but thought better for it when he saw the look on his wife's face. Elinor glanced around her before taking a step closer to Fergus, a conspiratory grin on her lips, "You know what this reminds me of?" She asked in a low seductive voice, "Our own wedding, remember that?" Reaching under Fergus' kilt she pinched a firm buttock and the King's eyes popped open in shock,

"Elinor!" He cried hoarsely, and looked down to see his wife's smile. He quickly forgot all about his misery as Elinor grabbed his hand and the two started making their way across the courtyard in quite a hurry, giggling like naughty children.

"Your parents are leaving." Elsa remarked from where she was standing near the food tables. Merida looked up to see her parents fleeing the reception and rolled her eyes at their expression, sometimes they were worse than teenagers! "Are they alright?"

"Oh, don’t worry, they're just fine." Merida answered flippantly, and looked around her to see if she and Elsa could pull the same stunt without too many people noticing, because as much fun as the party was, she just couldn’t wait to get Elsa alone and out of that tantalizing dress of hers.

"Are you sure, it could be food poisoning," Elsa was starting to look very much concerned, this day needed to be perfect, and putting her bride's parents out of commission certainly doesn’t fall under perfect! "Anna said that the Lutefisk was only six months old but she could have been wrong."

"Ach, don’t worry, nobody is eating that thing anyway!" Merida waved her hand in dismissal, before she caught the look on her wife's face, "It _looks_ at you!" She finished defensively, trying to smile away her blunder, but Elsa still didn’t look too happy. Reaching over Merida wrapped her arms around Elsa's waist, and leaned to whisper in her ear, "Don't worry, my parents are definitely _not_ suffering from food poisoning."

"Are you sure? I really hate for them to be ill while staying here." Merida chuckled, poor Elsa, she hasn’t been around Queen Elinor and King Fergus long enough to understand their little ways.

"Trust me," She assured the still brooding Elsa, "Let's just say that this is the sort of look they had about nine months before I got three wee brothers." It took Elsa a couple of seconds to process this,

"Oh, OH!" She cried, her face turning red in a space of seconds, and Merida smiled wide- why should she be the only one to suffer because of her parents' behavior? Elsa coughed in embarrassment and tried to compose herself from the very much unwanted images in her head, that she hardly noticed Merida's next words,

"And speaking of the three wee brothers!" She cried and hurried over to where the triplets were playing toss with Olaf's head. Elsa looked after her with a soft smile- she was so glad Anna was all grown up and mostly responsible for her own behavior. Merida reached her brothers and managed to catch Olaf's poor head as it sailed near her. She gave her brothers a scanting glare that would have made her mother proud. She opened her mouth to chastise the little rascals when she caught herself and let a mischievous smile take over, "Why don’t you three go and find mom and dad, they went back to the castle, I think they’re looking for the deserts." At the word 'deserts' the triplets eyes shone bright and the three were practically falling over one another in their hurry to go find their parents and prize. If she couldn’t slip away and get Elsa on her own she was not going to feel an ounce of remorse about this! Merida shook her head fondly, and made her way back to where Elsa was still standing, now joined by Anna. Poor Olaf had run away as soon as he got his head back, taking a route that will put as much distance as possible between him and the hellish triplets.

"What have you done?" Elsa asked her bride as Merida approached them, "You've got that naughty expression on your face." Merida smiled wider, wrapping her arms around Elsa's waist again,

"You like my naughty face?" She whispered in Elsa's ear, brushing her lips softly over her neck. Elsa's whole body went rigid and she looked around her to see if anyone was looking at them, she was still not used to having people witnessing her and Merida's physical affection but most of the people were too busy with their merry making to care what she and Merida was doing. Unfortunately, that did not apply to Anna.

"You two make a great couple," She said with a soft and completely oblivious smile. Merida pulled away from Elsa's neck, and took her hand in hers instead, doing her best to hide her disappointment of the intrusion, "And it was such a beautiful wedding… and your dresses are so pretty, you two are so pretty…" She continued gushing and Elsa squeezed Merida's hand sharply to stop her bride from saying something insulting to her sister.

"Where is Kristoff, I don’t think I've seen him for a while." Merida said sweetly, and Elsa wanted to roll her eyes, though in all fairness, she was hoping Anna will be on her merry way soon so that she could have Merida all to herself.

"Oh, he's probably off to feed Sven or something." Anna replied flippantly, causing Elsa and Merida to exchange a look,

"Is everything alright between you two?" Elsa asked, placing her hand on Anna's arm. Anna shrugged,

"I guess, I just wish he'd hurry up and ask me to marry him!" She scoffed with a somewhat childish pout.

"Why can't you ask him?" Merida asked. Elsa shot her bride a warning glare but Merida seemed genuinely perplexed, they've already had this conversation before and Merida was a little annoyed Anna was back to square one when it came to marriage proposals, Elsa loved the fact that Merida truly and honestly believed that Anna had just as much right to ask Kristoff to marry her as he had but she knew her sister well enough to know how things worked in Anna's head, so before Anna could say something that will make everyone angry at her she smiled sweetly at her sister,

"Yeah, I think that's a great idea," She told the shocked Anna, "After all, you've known him for almost a year, that's kind of a record for you." A sharp elbow from Merida caused Elsa to wince in pain and grind her teeth, "I mean, you have my full blessing this time." Anna looked suspiciously between Elsa and Merida, suddenly realizing where her sister was aiming- it had nothing to do with Kristoff and everything to do with her playing third wheel.

"Why don’t you go and find Kristoff, and just talk to him." Merida suggested before anyone could say another word. Anna nodded a tad too enthusiastically, suddenly relieved for the way out she was given and turned her heel to escape the uncomfortable silence and her sister's glare. "I like your sister, she's hilarious." Merida concluded, watching Anna's back disappearing through the crowd.

"She's embarrassing!" Elsa rolled her eyes, of course Merida would think Anna was fun, she wasn’t the one who had to deal with Anna's big, uncontrollable mouth! Merida's warm laughter filled the air around them and her hands were now pulling her close. She could feel the red curls that already managed to escape Merida's braid tickling her neck and it suddenly occurred to the queen that it was high time she used her royal right and took Merida somewhere more private. "We need to go!" She said sharply,

"Why?" Merida looked slightly shocked at Elsa's abrupt change of demeanor, "Are you feeling quite well, you're a little flushed." Elsa smiled softly, giving her bride a coy look from under her lashes,

"You know what, it could be _food poisoning_." She stressed meaningfully, but that only caused Merida to look even more concerned,

"Please don’t tell me you've eaten the lute-fish thing!" Merida cried, oh this was just great! The last thing she needed right now was dealing with a puking Elsa all night! It was their wedding night, she had _plans_! Elsa rolled her eyes,

"I meant the sort of food poisoning your parents had." She said flatly. It took Merida a couple of seconds to calm down from the terrors of worry back to the fun of flirting. She grabbed Elsa's waist again and brought her bride in for a deep kiss. Elsa smiled into the kiss, her hands buried in Merida's hair.

"Maybe next time you can try this without mentioning my parents." Merida said when they surfaced back for air, and Elsa found herself battling a fit of giggles which she couldn’t quite keep in.

"I'm sorry. Why don’t we go back to our room and I'll make you forget about everything." She suggested with a wide smile,

"Is that a promise?"

**~THE END~**

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N:** If you want to visualize Merida's dress, look up the white dress Eowyn wore when we first met her on "The Two Towers".
> 
> This rewrite was made so much more easy and fun with the aid of the wonderful music of Julie Fowlis- who's the one who sings "Touch the sky" From "Brave" and mostly sings in Scottish-Gaelic which is absolutely brilliant and put me right in the spirit. Do yourselves a favor and check her out, she's awesome!
> 
> Thank you all for reading, enjoying, reviewing and just in general.


	11. Bonus Chapter- Archery lessons- REPOST

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what happens when Merida decided to teach Elsa archery. 
> 
> Sort of a cut-out scene or a standalone one-shot, you decide. Chronologically this takes place right before chapter 10- The girls are already engaged, but the wedding didn’t happen yet.

** Archery lessons **

"Alright, now just relax your body, pull the arrow back and take aim." Elsa tried to follow Merida's orders, but it wasn’t as easy as it seemed. First of all, Merida was standing so close, she could feel the heat radiating from the redhead's body on her back, and that made it a whole lot harder to relax- Merida's body was invoking so many feelings inside her, and none of them was even close to relaxation. All she wanted right now was throw the damn bow down and grab Merida and kiss the daylight out of her. Secondly, she'd seen Merida fire her bow, and that was amazing, her level of skill was beyond anything Elsa had seen before and that made her feel quite inadequate, compared to her fiancée.

Merida was happy, so happy it felt almost wrong. Since her parents arrived for the wedding she was walking on clouds, having everyone she loved around her was so wonderful, and the fact that her father managed to sneak her bow and bring it to her here in Arendelle was even better! Merida wasted no time setting up an archery field near the castle. She decided to teach Elsa how to shoot- a queen should always be able to defend herself! She just hoped Elsa was a little more coordinated than Anna, who proved to be even worse than Wee Dingwall- at least he managed to hit the target in the end, Anna just managed to barely escape shooting her own foot.

But Elsa was already proving better than her sister. She let Merida manhandle her into position without much fuss, and she had a firm grip on the bow. Merida lowered her hands, brushing against Elsa's waist and tried to calm herself down- this was one side-effect she didn’t consider when she set out to teach Elsa bowing, standing so close to her fiancée never failed to excite Merida and she needed to keep a cool head, they were dealing with sharp pointy weapons after all.

"Remember, you inhale when you aim, and exhale when you release the arrow, got it?" Elsa nodded slightly, trying to remember what she was supposed to do through the mist of lust in her brain. Merida took a step back, letting Elsa have all the room she needed. Trying to keep in mind everything Merida had told her Elsa took aim again, and fired. The two girls watched the arrow zoom through the air, and falling about a foot short of the target. Elsa lowered the bow in disappointment, she had hoped to impress Merida, but as it turned out- she was really bad at this.

"Maybe we should start closer to the mark." Merida mused to herself, and Elsa rolled her eyes- this was pathetic, she had build an entire castle from ice with just her powers and now Merida looked at her like she was a complete failure just because she wasn’t strong enough to fire a stupid arrow! Dropping the bow carelessly, even though she knew this might send Merida into an angry fit, Elsa turned and took a step closer to Merida, bringing them flush together,

"Maybe we should skip archery lessons and do something fun." She practically purred, bringing Merida back from her calculations of target distance with a smile. Elsa grabbed her fiancée's face and kissed Merida deeply, the Scottish princess all too happy to reciprocate. Elsa pushed her knee between Merida's legs and used her foot to trip Merida; the two girls fell to the ground in a heap of flailing limbs and dresses.

"Och…" Merida moaned softly as her back connected painfully with the grass, with Elsa's weight on top of her, but she quickly recovered when Elsa's hands were trying to find their way under her dress. She looked down to see Elsa's head disappearing under her skirt before her eyes rolled back, and she let out a deep moan. Merida's eyes rolled back in her head and another moan escaped her lips when Elsa's tongue met with her most sensitive parts. This was heaven, it was pure bliss and damn but Elsa was getting better and better at this!

Merida's hands clawed at the grass under her, her head was tossed back and her spine curved with pleasure- she was so close, so close! She could feel the tremors starting to build and spreading in waves through her entire body and let the desire consume her whole. It took her a minute or so to come down from her high and opening her eyes slowly, her breath still ragged and a goofy smile spread on her face, Merida watched her lover emerge from under her skirt, her face only slightly flushed- Elsa was very good at keeping cool. Elsa caught Merida's eye and smiled, running her thumb slowly over the corners of her mouth. Merida bit her lip and pulled her beloved up and into a heated kiss.

"Hello girls," The pleasant and highly amused voice of Queen Elinor washed over the two girls who scrambled to their feet, trying to straighten up dresses and look like nothing was amiss, though their flushed faces and guilty expressions made the whole process much more difficult.

"Mum!" Merida cried hoarsely, trying to gauge how long was her mother standing there watching them and how much did she see, "What are you doing here?"

"I just stopped by to see what you two were up to." The Queen answered pleasantly, thoroughly enjoying herself. Luckily she didn’t witness much in the way of what her daughter and her fiancée were up to but it didn’t take a genius to figure out what they were doing.

"Archery!" Merida cried, a little too quickly, and picked up the forgotten bow to show her mother as proof. Next to her Elsa was standing demurely, clasping her hands together in front of her, looking like the picture of regal serenity and Elanor had to give it to the girl- she had remarkable self control, unlike her daughter who never actually mastered the art of lying convincingly.

"Yes," Elsa said softly, her face once again pale and composed, the epitome of Queenly composure, "Merida is teaching me how to use a bow." Next to her Merida waved the bow at her mother, doing her best to look composed and collected and failing miserably.

"I see. Well then," The Queen intoned slowly, all the while battling the laughter that was tickling her throat, "I guess I shall leave you two to it. Do carry on, and good luck with your… 'Archery'." The last word she stressed, moving her eyes from one girl to the next, a small grin tugging at her lips. The two girls tried to smile innocently as Queen Elinor turned and made her way back towards the castle, her back straight and her gait swift- wait until she finds Fergus and tell him all about this… As soon as The Queen's back disappeared Elsa let out a relieved breath, she knew they didn’t fool the queen for one second and that made the whole thing so much more embarrassing,

"Did your mother just…" She started but Merida wasn’t listening. Her eyes were glaring after her mother, and as soon as the queen was out of earshot she started muttering,

"Oh, I'll show her 'Archery'!" Turning to her fiancée, Merida grabbed Elsa's arm, and started dragging the surprised blonde after her, "Come on, we're not leaving this place until you put an arrow in that target!" Elsa rolled her eyes and sighed, it was such a shame- she was actually starting to have fun with archery lessons…    

 


End file.
